<< Back to Archives
Independent Scholars' Evenings
2005 Events
Fall Session
Independent Scholars' EveningsSecond floor of The Moline Club
Thursdays at 7:00 p.m.
Doors open at 6.30 p.m.
Events are free & open to the public
Refreshments are served before and after the event
Please scroll down for current schedule.
Annual Fundraiser
September 29, 2005 commencing our 10th year.Annual Dinner Prepared by Chef Tim of The Moline Club.
Cocktails at 6.00 p.m. Dinner at 6.30 p.m.
Presentation of annual program at 7.00 p.m.
Key note speaker:
Roald Tweet. Ph.D.
Retired Professor of English, Augustana College and writer.
Author of The Rock Island Lines.
Surprise event:
This year, our annual dinner coincides with the birthday of Kathleen Lawless Cox, one of our earliest Independent Scholars. Ms. Lawless Cox has just been nominated Poet Laureate of the Quad Cities. With great joy we will celebrate her birthday.
Please join us at The Moline Club 513 16th Street, Moline
Please call 309-762-8547 for reservations.
Cost of dinner $ 15.00 per person all inclusive.
Creativity and Society
On Sept. 20th. 2001Bruce Carter began our work on Creativity with his presentation "Creativity: A lifelong project."
In the month of October we will continue our explorations and look at the aspects of Creativity in Society.
Social Perimeters of Creative Thinking
October 6th
Bruce CarterArtist and host for Art Talks on WVIK
October 13th
Sean LearyEntertainment Editor for The Dispatch, and Author
October 20th
Creativity and CoffeeNational Geographic Society issue on the ingesting of coffee to maintain creativity.
General discussion
October 27th
Kathleen Lawless CoxArtist and poet. Current Quad City Poet Laureate.
November 3rd
Narveen VirdiCultural Diplomacy New essay
November 10th
Neil DahlstromArchivist. Deere and Company, Writer and Current President, Moline Preservation Society
Lincoln’s Wrath New book
November 17th
Kathleen CoxCurrent Poet Laureate of the Quad Cities. Artist
Poetry Reading most recent poetry
In the Month of December
Happy Holidays!This month we have three diverse and very interesting speakers who will be sharing their independent work with us. We look forward to seeing you!
December 1st
Lars Rehnberg"Should Music be Free?
File Sharing, the Internet, and the Price of Art"
Presentation on digital music and Internet file sharing, focusing on phenomena like the MP3 file, CD burners, Napster, Kazaa, and the iPod. We’ll discuss issues of intellectual copyright, ethics, distributed cognition, and the speed of modern commerce.
December 8th
Ven. Hoeurn Somnieng, Theravada Buddhist monk from the Kingdom of Cambodia"Buddhism with Cambodian Society"
Presentation and question answer forum
December 15th
Dr. Jacob P. RayapatiPh.D. in American Literature
"Christ in the Art of India"
The representation of Christ in the Art of India.
Presentation and question answer forum
2005 Summer Events
Our next year begins with our Annual Fundraiser in mid September 2005 when we begin our 10th year.Independent Scholars' Evenings
Second floor of The Moline ClubThursdays at 7:00 p.m.
Events are free & open to the public
Refreshments are served before and after the event
A Summer Reading book
Upcoming Event:review Goethe's novel "Werther"
Dr. Kim Vivian
As a continuation of the presentation on Goethe by Dr. Vivian on April 21st.
Goethe's Werther is the first novel in western literature which examines the psychological deterioration of its hero. That the novel was such a tremendous success shows that it touched a nerve if not exposed then at least close to the surface. The novel also takes a critical look at late 18th-century German society and the problems that a generation of young men faced.
The mass appeal was so strong and historic that the two main characters of the novel showed up on tableware china in use at that time.
There is another novel that ties in well with Werther. It is a novel that takes place in former East Germany in the 1970s and was also a sensation when it came out. The novel uses " Werther " as a point of departure and does so very well. The author's name is Ulrich Plenzdorf and the title is The New Sufferings of Young W.
The review and discussion will be conducted by Dr. Vivian.
In the meantime, the novel "Werther " is readily available at bookstores or over the web. It is a short novel, about 100 pages.
"The New Sufferings of Young W." by Ulrich Plenzdorf is even shorter than " Werther" and is still in print at Amazon.
Please watch for the date announcement.
Your Presence is important in its support of original work.
Please be generous with your presence.
2005 Spring Session
Independent Scholars' EveningsSecond floor of The Moline Club
Thursdays at 7:00 p.m.
Events are free & open to the public
Refreshments are served before and after the event
February 2005
The Lion In Winter:Beginning Feb. 3rd. and going on through Feb. 10th. Feb. 17th. and Feb. 24th. we will be reciting works from the poets who are the evergreens.
February 3rd
session is lead by John McBride, President of Quint City Poets.February 10th
session is lead by Rebecca Wee, poet laureate of the Quad Cities.February 17th
session is lead by Rebecca Wee, poet laureate of the Quad Cities.This session will cover works of William Blake and Anna Akhmatova -- two very different poets.
Please bring along your favorite poems from established poets to share with the group.....those poets who have influenced you and whom you enjoy reading and rereading.
February 24th
session is lead by Ellen Tsagaris of the Kaplan University.March 3rd
Acoustics and PsychoacousticsLars Rehnberg:
The first of a series about music will explore the scientific underpinnings of sound and demonstrate interactions between sound and the brain (psychoacoustics).
We will learn about harmonic overtones, as well as hear musical scales from around the world.
March 10th
OperaLori Pement Anderson:
Will sing selections from her favourtie arias. After the presentation, we will be discussing what we do/don't like about adding music to pre-existing poetry.
March 17th
St. Patrick's Day celebrations.March 24th
Easter Thursday.. TBAMarch 31st
Stories on the GuitarMark Ridolfi:
Will present his compositions on the guitar.
April 7th
Mind-Body and Behavioral Medicine: Understanding Chronic Health Conditions and Promoting Optimal HealthDr. James A. Nickel
Will discuss the foundations of Mind-Body and Behavioral Medicine. The talk will include a discussion of applications for chronic health problems, stress-related illness and the maintenance of optimal health. A bio-psychosocial model of health will be presented, examining the interplay of physical, psychological and social factors in health at the individual, family and societal levels.
April 14th
Emotional Memory - a self -reinforcing loopDiscussions of the validity of a recent study from Duke University. The paper will be circulated to attendees. The discussions will be led by area psychologists.
April 21st
Goethe and His PoetryDr. Kim Vivian
Professor of German, Augustana College
Will be presenting an evening of Goethe's poems. A selection of poetry from his various periods will be circulated during the evening. Selected poems will be discussed.
April 28th
Are Critics Robbing Themselves of Joy?' Happiness and the Reception of FilmsLars Rehnberg from River City Reader
This is a paper about information-processing models (how our brains process experience) and why the WAY you pay attention influences your experiences. I look first at the model itself, then at two films - Titanic, the highest-grossing film of all time, and Citizen Kane, ostensibly the most critically acclaimed.
May 5th. 2005
"EMOTIONS AS ENERGY FOR AFFIRMATION"Leslye Killian
Based on the " S.P.I.C.E." model of "Fifth Love" concepts (see www.fifthlove.com)
Leslye Killian, from Bettendorf, will present a perspective on these renewed concepts of emotions and affirmation, as a woman, wife and mother. The concepts are examined in light of her awareness of multiple cultural shifts, taking place while raising her family from the late 1960's through the early 2,000's. Leslye has given a "witness" talk on "Awareness" to her Church Women's group, and participated in multicultural groups while living with her family in Asia.
May 12th. 2005
" ACOUSTIC ACROBATICS"Music by Randy Arcenas
Baroque to folk, blues to bluegrass, rags and jazz:
A brief survey of guitar permutations and musical peregrinations.
Randy Arcenas, from Davenport, has given guitar performances for over 30 years. He has studied classical and jazz guitar at Roosevelt University in Chicago, and studied folkloric guitar at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. He has taught guitar lessons for 10 years at the People's Music School in Chicago.
May 15th. 2005
5.00 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. at The Moline Club.Kathak: Classical Dance from North India.
Prashant Shah Reference: Previous event - Fall 2002
A special dance choreographed for The Mississippi will be performed.
International Kathak Dance artist Prashant Shah has choreographed a special Kathak Dance peice in celebration of The Mississippi, the great river.
He gives the following words for his creative expression:
River & Dance………
Rivers have frequently been the topic of dance in the Indian art. Some dance forms tell of those who traveled these water trails, some are about the river itself, while some spin tales of events related to the river.
On the other hand, some touch our emotions with stories of sorrow and woe or of joy and happiness.
The mighty Mississippi through its coarse and force has left deep impression of human emotions in our lives down the years. Here, I personally visualize two strong realities which left positive and negative emotions on human lives, which can be connected to the life of Mississippi. One, “creation” and other “destruction”. In other words, the creativity always brings joy, happiness, pride etc whereas, the destruction is the end of everything.
Now the questions arise……………
What has dance got to do with rivers ? Well, in one sense, the inexorable ebb and flow of the river waters is complementary to the fluid movements of dance. Who better than a dancer could convey the dynamism, the insurgency, the grace and turmoil of these terrestrial circulatory systems ?
Though, Mighty Mississippi has holy spirit and will have it forever – here the choreographer attempts through the dance number ‘Aakar’ ( which literally means Shapes ) to show the vigor, strong and destructive mood of Mississippi river through Nataraja dance technique and abhinaya ( Lord of Dance – Shiva’s expressions ) strong footwork, fast pirouettes and quality of father of all rivers whereas in the other side of this same dance piece, the choreographer visualizes the positive impact of Mississippi river on human life through lyrical movements identifying it to the flow of Mississippi river and also people playing with water with respect to the Natwar dance philosophy abhinaya and technique.
The word ‘Mississippi’ have several American Indian origins: Primary origins are from The Sauk of our area who called it " Mase'sibowi " , the Ojibwe name for the river, “Messipi”, which means big river, and to the Algonquin " Missi Sepe" , “great river,” literally, “father of waters.” It is also named “ River of Holy Spirit”.
Programme details…………
The programme will be divided into two halves………….
Aakar
……… the first half in connection to Mississippi river
Traditional Kathak dance
…….. the second half, Krishna Vandana, Piya Bawri, Tarana
Upcoming Event:
review Goethe's novel "Werther"Dr. Kim Vivian
As a continuation of the presentation on Goethe by Dr. Vivian on April 21st.
Goethe's Werther is the first novel in western literature which examines the psychological deterioration of its hero. That the novel was such a tremendous success shows that it touched a nerve if not exposed then at least close to the surface. The novel also takes a critical look at late 18th-century German society and the problems that a generation of young men faced.
The mass appeal was so strong and historic that the two main characters of the novel showed up on tableware china in use at that time.
There is another novel that ties in well with Werther. It is a novel that takes place in former East Germany in the 1970s and was also a sensation when it came out. The novel uses " Werther " as a point of departure and does so very well. The author's name is Ulrich Plenzdorf and the title is The New Sufferings of Young W.
The review and discussion will be conducted by Dr. Vivian.
In the meantime, the novel " Werther " is readily available at bookstores or over the web. It is a short novel, about 100 pages.
" The New Sufferings of Young W." by Ulrich Plenzdorf is even shorter than " Werther" and is still in print at Amazon.
Please watch for the date announcement.
The Lion In Winter.
This February, and every succeeding February, we will review those evergreen writers in the literary forms they offer. These are the writers who defy speed reading... whose rich and invigorating words stand on their own accord. Like musical notes, the words interplay in our lives, exploring their attraction in as many ways as they can. Like music, it is the ability to listen that makes the attraction more keen and more finely refined, we read and reread the works in enjoyment, and with the art of listening. It is this art of listening that is in common with the writer and the reader.. To write well you must learn to listen. To read you must learn to listen.
Imaginative literature is about listening to a voice. A voice that is its very own, and like none other. A voice that speaks to you and to you alone. In private. It is this voice that you are communicating with, and which the artist / writer is communicating with you. There is a distinctive quality, partly because of the voice itself, and partly because of the interaction the voice has with your own voice. It is for you alone. The voice of the artist speaks to you. And, subsequently, to each individual separately. The details are merely matters of techniques. What is most important is that you hear the voice.
Writers don't just "hold, as 'twere, a mirror up to nature" by creating an imitation of life; they create a moment of life itself.
That is the the task, the art, the skill of the writer as an imaginative writer.. be it poetry or prose - to be able to stretch out and reach out to the reader and let it have, with the reader, a life of its own. Essentially it is this dual interaction, this two-way street...and that is what the skillful artist is able to achieve.. to arouse that exact note in the reader with the only tool on the canvas .. the voice. A voice that, in Coleridge's words, "contains in itself the reasons why it is so and not otherwise"
It is the skill of the writer to evoke, only with the voice on the canvas of a page, the images for the the interpretations of the reader as one listens to the overtones and the undertones, the disguises that reveal more than they cover up and their imbedded implications, the naturalness and the artificiality, the sound of the silences, the meanings of the unsaid, the nuances of what is said, the tone and the stress that lead the images, and the listeners. The reader can recognize the depth of a master.
To write well, the writer and poet has to listen well. To understand well the reader has to listen well.
Often we do not know, clearly, why we love certain poets. That is irrelevant. Like life, the listening is a skill that occurs at a unconscious or super-conscious plane. It is the refinement of the instinct that is finely tuned, and that increases the ability to listen well.
A good poem is hard to find, but when found the effect of it is to make you, the reader, more alive.
What are the reasons you love what you do? Why do you feel a poem is a good poem? It strikes a cord. We enjoy the poems, and luxuriate in their sound and in their voice, as we do in the grand idea of a symphony, or in a musical piece, individual and complete in itself, delighting the senses, stirring the intellect and stimulating the heart, uplifting the soul.
Once you find a good poem, and recognize it as such, frequently you will be reading the poem several times before beginning to understand it fully. It is not important to know why. 'Why' is an exploration reserved for those who wish to culture the skill of reaching out to the listener with the medium of voice on the canvas of a printed page. 'Why' and 'How' is the invigorating discovery of the writer and the pleasure in artistic freedom. That is the catch - the search for artistic freedom. Much has been written about that aspect, and many have searched hard and long for their artistic freedom, struggling through anarchy and confusion. Artistic freedom is anchored and has its own perimeters without which it is lost in limitless space. Artistic freedom is anchored in the discovery of the writer's own voice, which enables the individual and distinctive expression. The main question, then, is finding the voice. It is equally important to know what to do/ what to write, and what not to do/ what not to write. And when.
The fundamental question, then, is the " finding of the voice."
There is a resonance that all writers have, to know, instinctively, what is true and what is right. It is the correct note that is sounded. The correct note for which the writer has listened long and hard, learnt much and practiced through many pages till the instinct is finely tuned and the correct note soars in all its beauty. for the listening pleasure of the readers.
Does the exploration end after the voice is discovered? Hardly. There are the works of art that are enjoyed by the individual, both the writer and the reader, repeatedly over time, and then there are the works of art discovered anew by the individual, both the writer and the reader, to be delighted in and shared. A new voice, and, as all voices, a distinctive and unusual voice, true to its own self.
Those are the voices that deserve to be called "The Lion In Winter."
Your Presence is important in its support of original work. Please be generous with your presence.Intergrative Wholistic Healing
2005 Events
May 14th.2005
10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.2005 Image Guidance Intensive for Professional Healers at Larson Center - Illini Hospital
Hosted by Integrative Wellness Center.
2526 41st. Street. Moline. (309) 792-7063
Image Guidance Intensive for Professional Healers
Dr. Elizabeth-Anne Stewart Min., Ph.D.
Director, The Madison Centre for Spirituality & the Arts
1043 West Madison Street, Chicago, Il 60607
Author, professor and spiritual guide, Dr. Elizabeth-Anne Stewart will offer an all-day intensive training seminar in Image Guidance, a process of dialoguing with the unconscious which she developed in 1989 and described in two books published by Paulist Press: Image Guidance: A Tool for Spiritual Direction and Image Guidance and Healing. In this process, the client comes up with a spontaneous image which captures the essence of a specific issue. Led by the _guide_ into a state of altered consciousness through relaxation exercises, the client then begins a facilitated dialogue with the image which then clarifies the issue at hand, suggesting strategies for healing. The session concludes with affirmations and summarizing comments by the guide, followed by a time for processing the experience once the client has returned to waking consciousness.
Image Guidance is invaluable for arriving at clarity about a situation, for reducing stress, for preparing for a difficult/painful event, for finding direction, for reducing physical symptoms, for understanding the roots of a particular ailment, for connecting with God, for modifying behavior, the working with addictions, for discernment etc. Whether a client is preparing for birth or for death, exploring past trauma or re-entering a dream, adjusting to disability or learning to live with chronic illness, discerning vocation or working through a major transition, Image Guidance can provide answers in less than an hour. It is a highly effective short term therapeutic intervention which can be life-changing for the client, whether in a hospital, a parish setting, a doctor's office or in counseling contexts.
The seminar will be open to health care professionals, pastoral counselors, spiritual directors, chaplains, social workers and therapists.
More about this process and about Dr. Stewart can be found at www.elizabethannestewart.com
