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Past Events
Saturday, 30 Jan 2010
Mosaic: Finding Beauty in a Broken World - Terry Tempest Williams
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Terry Tempest Williams is a conservationist, advocate for free speech, and author of Refuge, a classic in environmental literature. She has been called "a citizen writer," a writer who speaks and speaks out on behalf of an ethical stance toward life. She has testified before Congress on women's health issues, camped in the remote regions of Utah and Alaska wildernesses and worked as "a barefoot artist" in Rwanda. Williams publications include An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field; Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert; and The Open Space of Democracy. Her most recent book is Finding Beauty in a Broken World. Williams's many awards and achievements include a Guggenheim Fellowship in creative nonfiction, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, the Robert Marshall Award from The Wilderness Society, and the Wallace Stegner Award from the Center for the American West. Part of the Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness and the Creative Imagination and the Eco-Voices Series.
No audio recording available for download or podcast.
Meaningful Work: The Writer as Citizen - Terry Tempest Williams and Rick Bass
3:30 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Join symposium keynotes Terry Tempest Williams and Rick Bass in a conversation about the responsibility of writers in an ever-changing and imperiled environmental landscape. Terry Tempest Williams is a conservationist, advocate for free speech, and author of Refuge. Her most recent book is Finding Beauty in a Broken World. Rick Bass is the author of twenty books, including the autobiographical Why I Came West and the short story collection The Lives of Rocks. He lives in the Yaak Valley in the northern Rockies, where he has been active in protecting the land from roads and logging. The discussion will be moderated by Dean Bakopoulos, an assistant professor in the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Environment. Part of the Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness, and the Creative Imagination Symposium.
No audio recording available for download or podcast.
Writers Grow Here: FLYWAY's Home Voices Reading
2:15 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Sponsored by Flyway: Journal of Writing and Environment, the Home Voices event showcases creative work focused on themes of environmental imagination - poetry, fiction, and nonfiction - from writers in the Iowa State MFA Program in Creative Writing & Environment. The Home Voices readers are selected from a competitive pool of submissions by the staff of Flyway, and the top winners' work will be published in a forthcoming issue of Flyway in 2010. Part of the Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness, and the Creative Imagination.
The Wilding: A Fiction Reading - Benjamin Percy
1:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Ben Percy, assistant professor of creative writing at Iowa State, was raised in the high desert of Central Oregon. He is the author of the novel The Wilding, forthcoming from Graywolf Press, and two books of stories, Refresh, Refresh and The Language of Elk. His fiction and nonfiction have been read on National Public Radio, performed at Symphony Space, and published by Esquire, Men's Journal, the Paris Review, the Chicago Tribune, Glimmer Train, and Best American Short Stories. Percy's honors include a Whiting Award, the Plimpton Prize and a Pushcart Prize. Part of the Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness, and the Creative Imagination.
Under Our Skin: There's No Medicine for Someone Like You - Documentary Film
10:00 AM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Under Our Skin exposes the hidden story of Lyme disease. It looks not only at the science and politics of the disease but also at the personal stories of those who have been affected, from doctors who risk their medical licenses to patients who once led active lives but now can barely walk. While exposing a broken health care and medical research system, the film also gives voice to those who believe that instead of a crisis, Lyme is simply a "disease du jour," over diagnosed and contributing to another crisis: the looming resistance of microbes and ineffectuality of antibiotics. Under Our Skin was produced and directed by Andy Abrahams Wilson and won Best Documentary Award at the Camden International Film Festival. Part of the Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness, and the Creative Imagination.
Friday, 29 Jan 2010
The Girls on the Roof: A Poetry Performance - Mary Swander and the Eulenspiegel Puppet Company
7:00 PM – Ames Public Library, 515 Douglas Avenue - Iowa Poet Laureate Mary Swander teams up with the Eulenspiegel Puppet Company to perform a poem based on selections from Swander's latest book of poetry, The Girls on the Roof. The book-length narrative poem features the story of a mother and daughter stranded on the rooftop of Crazy Eddie's Cafe on the banks of the Mississippi River for three days during the flood of 1993. While stranded, they discover things about each other they would prefer never to have known. The performance features Swander reading poems while puppeteer Monica Leo bringx the scenes alive through the use of hand, rod, and shadow puppets. This production is for an adult audience. Part of the Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness, and the Creative Imagination.
Wednesday, 27 Jan 2010
Can We Save the World? - Wendy Chamberlin
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Wendy Chamberlin is president of the Middle East Institute and a twenty-nine-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service. She was the U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan from 2001 to 2002 and played a key role in gaining Pakistan's cooperation for the U.S.-led campaign against al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan following 9/11. From 2002 to 2004 she directed civilian reconstruction programs in Iraq and Afghanistan and development assistance programs in the Middle East and East Asia for USAID. She has also served as Deputy High Commissioner for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. A graduate of Northwestern University, Chamberlin has an MS in education from Boston University and participated in the Executive Program at Harvard University. Part of the World Affairs Series.
This lecture is available as an Iowa Public Television Intelligent Talk broadcast: Can We Save the World? Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin (#177)
Tuesday, 26 Jan 2010
Trauma, Reconciliation and Forgiveness after the Rwandan Genocide - Film and Discussion with Director Patrick Mureithi
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - ICYIZERE: Hope is a documentary by filmmaker Patrick Mureithi, who traveled to Rwanda to film a gathering of ten survivors and ten perpetrators of the l994 genocide. It documents the experience of the participants as they are taught about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and go through a series of group exercises to help build trust. The film also explores how the media was used to incite fear, hatred and ultimately, genocide, and the filmmaker's belief that media can similarly be used to unite and to heal. The first version of the film was shared with audiences at the 2008 Rwanda Film Festival and on Rwanda National Television. Director Patrick Mureithi will lead a discussion after the 45-minute screening. Part of the World Affairs Series and the Martin Luther King Jr Holiday Series.
Monday, 25 Jan 2010
Who Will Tell the Story? The Black Architects' Epic Journey toward Equal Opportunity - R. Steven Lewis
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - R. Steven Lewis is the president of the National Organization of Minority Architects, an organization that promotes not only the value of expressing cultural identity through architecture and design but the importance of mentoring minorities in an under-represented profession. Lewis cofounded the Los Angeles based RAW Architecture in 1984 and was with the firm twenty years. In 2004 he joined the U.S. General Services Administration's Office of the Chief Architect, where for four years he worked on the Design Excellence Program. He recently joined the Pasadena office of the engineering and construction company Parsons Corp. In 2006, Lewis was named a Loeb Fellow at Harvard University, where his topic of study was race and the profession of architecture. NOMA statistics reveal there are less than 2,000 licensed Black architects in the United States. Part of the Martin Luther King Jr Holiday Series.
Thursday, 21 Jan 2010
ICYIZERE: Hope - A Documentary about Trauma, Reconciliation and Forgiveness after the Rwandan Genocide
5:30 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - ICYIZERE: Hope is a 90-minute documentary by filmmaker Patrick Mureithi, who traveled to Rwanda to film a gathering of ten survivors and ten perpetrators of the l994 genocide. It documents the experience of the participants as they are taught about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and go through a series of group exercises to help build trust.
Director Patrick Mureithi will lead a discussion about ICYIZERE: Hope on Tuesday, January 26, at 8 p.m. in the Memorial Union Great Hall. The event will begin with a screening of a shortened version (45 min) of the film.