Orcas Crossroads Lecture Series

The Crossroads Lecture Series brings distinguished speakers to Orcas Island to share their expertise on timely and important issues.   Topics and speakers are carefully selected with input from the Crossroads Associates and other members of the community.  Important goals of the series are to provide the essential background for understanding different sides of complex issues and to encourage a lively exchange of ideas.

2011-2012 Season

REMAINING LECTURES


Sunday, March 18, 2:00 PM, Orcas Center
Stephen Kobrin
Books and Bits: The Future of Publishing

The digital revolution changes the way information is encoded and transmitted, dramatically affecting what a book is, how books are published and how readers acquire them. Digital communications and the internet create the possibility of more direct human interactions with the material.

Professor Kobrin will talk about the current situation and speculate about the future of both publishing and book distribution. Some of the questions he will address include:

• Is a new relationship evolving between authors and their readers as a result of the rise of the internet and the digital revolution? Publishers have traditionally intermediated that relationship, but will they continue to do so?

• With the rising importance of web-based retailers for books (both electronic and print) and the lessened availability of bricks and mortar bookstores, it is increasingly difficult for readers to browse physical books. How will readers discover books in the digital world and how will they evaluate their quality once they do?

• Will the traditional bookstore survive in the face of web-based competition?

• Will ebooks replace print books? More reasonably, what will be the niche for each in the future?

Professor Kobrin is the William H. Wurster Professor of Multinational Management at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business. Since 2008 he has been the Publisher and Executive Director of the Wharton Digital Press. He is a book lover himself but has been charged with negotiating the issues faced by the Wharton School Press with publishing in the age of the information revolution.

Sunday, April 1, 2:00 PM, Orcas Center
David Skover
The First Amendment and the Internet:  Current Dilemmas

PAST LECTURES THIS SEASON


Sunday, September 18, 2011,  2:00 pm

Nancy Ellen Abrams and Joel R. Primack

The New Universe and the Human Future

Modern cosmology gives us a completely new picture of the universe based on dark matter, dark energy, and the drama of cosmic evolution.  Abrams and Primack will explain the new picture with stunning astronomical videos and relate it to life here on Earth, suggesting ways of understanding the global issues of our time in their cosmic context.


Sunday, October 9, 2:00 PM

Dmitry Orlov

The Fall of the American Empire

Dmitry Orlov was an eyewitness to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. His book Reinventing Collapse outlines clearly how we are manifesting five stages of collapse in the United States: financial, commercial, political, social, and cultural.  He suggests that by examining maladaptive parts of our common cultural baggage, we can survive, thrive, and discover more meaningful and fulfilling lives, in spite of steadily deteriorating circumstances for the US.

Read “Collapse of the Titans”, and interview with Dmitry Orlov here.

Read Cluborlov”, Dmitry Orlov’s blog.


Saturday, October 29, 7:30 PM

Steve Olson

Mapping Human History: Discovering the Past Through Our Genes

Olson masterfully describes a profound insight gleaned from the Human Genome Project:  the remarkable unity of the human species at the genetic level.

Using the genetic differences found in people today to reconstruct the last 150,000 years of human history and reveal the biological roots of our similarities and differences, this lecture offers new ways of thinking about race, ethnicity, ancestry, and language.

Sunday, February 26, 2012, 2:00 PM
Nancy K. Rivenburgh

The Future of News Reporting Worldwide

The non-profit Orcas Crossroads Lecture Series is operated by a group of volunteers with financial support from Crossroads Associates, the Daniel and Margaret Carper Foundation and Individual Contributors.  About half the cost of the series is offset by ticket sales. Join Crossroads supporters, and find more information, at www.orcascrossroads.org.

Tickets are available through this website and at Darvill’s Book Store.

LETTER TO THE ORCAS COMMUNITY

The Crossroads Lecture Series has brought high-quality speakers to Orcas for nearly five years and is now making an administrative change. Crossroads was initially set up as a Library program with a generous grant from the Sir Francis Bacon Foundation. We have become a separate non-profit organization because, as a Library program, Crossroads would be unable to continue charging for tickets to offset program expenses.

The policy of offering reasonably priced tickets — free to Islanders who could not otherwise come — will be retained as long as possible. There should be no noticeable effect on the quality or format of the lectures and the Crossroads audience should notice little or no change.

The continued enthusiasm and support of the Orcas community remain essential for the success of Crossroads.    Please contact any member of the Library Board or the Crossroads committee (www.orcascrossroads.org) if you have questions.

Sincerely,

Bruce Buchanan, Chair, Crossroads Committee

Thank You Letter to the Orcas Community

Published in Bullwings, August 26, 2011.

Letter to the Editor: Crossroads Lectures Seeks Associates

Thanks to the Orcas community for supporting the Crossroads Lectures.  We hope you will also enjoy the outstanding speakers for the upcoming 2011-2012 season who will be speaking on The Future of the Book, Current Dilemmas and the Internet, Our Place in the Expanding Universe, The American Empire, and Human Evolution.

Because we have deliberately kept the cost of a ticket at $10, our ticket sales cover only about half our costs.  The Crossroads Associates and a small number of generous underwriters will allow us to continue to offer complimentary tickets to students and those who would not otherwise attend, as well as to keep single tickets affordable.

Would you please consider becoming a Crossroads Associate?  The cost is only a little more than season tickets for two, $250 annually, and it includes two season tickets.    Crossroads Associates are invited to the major planning meetings (usually in December) where we brainstorm for relevant and intriguing topics to include in the following season.  Input from Associates has been very helpful to the  Committee,  and the planning meeting is lively, interesting and enjoyable. Associates are also invited to the small, private receptions held for the speakers, which Associates may also host, allowing you to engage in intimate discussion with the speakers.

If you are inclined to support the series to an even greater extent than with an Associate membership, you are encouraged to consider underwriting a lecture with a $1,000 contribution. In any case, please send a check made out to CROSSROADS and mail to us at
Orcascrossroads, PO Box 1741, Eastsound), or pay by credit card on our website: orcascrossroads.org.

We look forward to seeing you this season.

Sincerely,

Bruce Buchanan
For the Orcas Crossroads Lecture Series Committee


Ticket Information

  • Crossroads Associates receive two season tickets; find more information on the benefits of joining the Associates and consider supporting the series in this way.
  • Season tickets for all lectures are $50; for the three lectures in the spring they are $25.  They may be purchased at Darvill’s Bookstore, or pay now with PayPal.
  • Individual tickets may be purchased in advance at Darvill’s Bookstore for $10, or pay now with PayPal and pick up tickets at the door. Remaining tickets will be sold at the door.
  • Through the generosity of the Crossroads Associates, a limited number of complimentary tickets are made available in advance through the Senior Center.
  • We also welcome Underwriters for individual lectures. A $1000 donation covers close to half the cost of one lecture and helps us bring nationally known experts to Orcas. Pay through PayPal to support the series in this way.
  • Crossroads Associates receive two season tickets; find more information on the benefits of joining the Associates and consider supporting the series in this way.

    • Request more information about underwriting by sending your name and phone number so we can call you.

Information About Us

Information about the Orcas Center

Editors’ Picks of Books

One example of a book by one of our popular speakers, available from Darvills on Orcas Island or from Amazon if not local.  (Click on the book cover to go to Amazon.)

Flotsametrics And The Floating World