Orcas Crossroads Lecture Series and CrossCurrents Seminar 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.
This year we are experimenting with a second series, named “CrossCurrents”, in which specialized topics will be discussed in a small group setting. Please read more information about the CrossCurrents seminar series and sign up on the required signup form.
SPRING 2013 LECTURES
Mark Your Calendars
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• John Gottman & Julie Gottman “Making Love Last” Sunday March 10, 2013 2:00 pm Orcas Center
Celebrated researchers and couples counselors, John Gottman PhD and Julie Gottman PhD, plumb the mysteries of love: Where does it come from? Why does some love last, and why does some fade? With a gift for translating scientific ideas into insightful and practical advice, the Gottmans share their research about love and what it takes to develop a trustful, intimate, and emotionally fulfilling bond.
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• Tim Walsh “Earthquake and Tsunami Risks in the San Juan Islands” Sunday April 7, 2013 2:00 pm Orcas Center
Every few hundred years or so, the Pacific Northwest experiences a tremendous Cascadia Earthquake. Geologist Tim Walsh of the Washington Division of Natural Resources will discuss risks of such an earthquake, and the resulting tsunami, in the San Juan Islands.
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• Greg Anderson “Why Save Vanishing Languages?” Wednesday May 1, 2013, 5:00 pm Emmanuel Episcopal Parish Hall
The global language extinction crisis stands out among the most widespread but still poorly known social issues of the 21st century. Anderson will contextualize the global language extinction crisis, its causes and consequences, and speak to the situation in the Pacific NW region. Many of the voices of our region have already fallen silent, but he will highlight steps underway to combat the crisis on the local level.
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• Sallie Tisdale “Questioning Charity: the pros & cons of international charity” Sunday May 12, 2013 2:00 pm Orcas Center
The international conversation about the effects of foreign aid and donation raises many serious questions: What do people need? What really works? How do we know we are doing good? Award-winning writer Sallie Tisdale will talk about the challenges and successes of international aid work, and recount her experiences volunteering in a village in Uganda, as featured in Harper’s magazine in 2012.
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FALL 2012 LECTURES
Watch the Videos
Tom McCormick “Is Health Care a Right?” Sunday September 9, 2011 2:00 pm Orcas Center
Controversy surges over the question of whether health care is a right or a privilege. Dr. McCormick’s lecture will explore philosophical concepts of “rights” and “duties” and ethical principles that undergird our bid for a “just society.” Conflicts arise from an almost unlimited demand for health care services against limited resources to pay for such. How do “social determinants” of health enter this picture?
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Hedrick Smith “The Dream At Risk” Saturday September 22, 2012 5:00 pm Emmanuel Episcopal Parish Hall
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View the video of Hedrick Smith’s lecture 9/22/12
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Pulitzer Prize winner Hedrick Smith’s new work, Who Stole the American Dream?, steps back from the partisan fever of the 2012 campaign to explain how we got to where we are today — how America moved from an era of middle class prosperity and power, effective bipartisanship and grass roots activism to today’s polarized gridlock, unequal democracy and unequal economy that has unraveled the American Dream for millions of middle class families.
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Daniel Kammen “Energizing the Low-Carbon Future” Sunday October 7, 2012 2:00 pm Orcas Center
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View the video of Daniel Kammen’s lecture 10/7/12
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Dr. Kammen will explore innovations in and barriers to building renewable energy systems worldwide, from villages to large regional economies, focusing on tools already available and others needed to battle for a sustainable planet. Dr. Kammen is Professor in the Energy and Resources Group and in the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley, where he founded and directs the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory.
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Claudia Kawas “Lessons from the Oldest Old: the 90+ Study” Sunday November 4, 2012 2:00 pm Orcas Center
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View the video of Claudia Kawas’ lecture 11/4/12
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Claudia Kawas, MD, oversees “The 90+ Study”, initiated in 2003 at the University of California, Irvine, to study the oldest-old, the fastest growing age group in the United States. She will share major findings of the ongoing study — factors associated with longevity — What makes people live to age 90 and beyond? What types of food, activities or lifestyles are associated with living longer? What are ways to remain dementia-free in your 90’s?
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LECTURES LAST 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.
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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.
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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.
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| Sunday, February 26, 2012, 2:00 PM Nancy K. RivenburghThe Future of News Reporting Worldwide |
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Sunday, April 1, 2:00 PM, Orcas Center
David Skover
The First Amendment and the Internet: Current Dilemmas
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ABOUT US
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, the Washington Humanities 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.
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
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
We welcome your views.
Email your comments on any aspects of the Crossroads series.