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Dissent in Our Democracy - Ambassador Joseph Wilson
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Joseph Wilson was a career United States diplomat from 1976 to 1998. During Democratic and Republican administrations he served in various diplomatic posts throughout Africa and eventually as ambassador to Gabon. His career was marked with numerous senior government appointments, including that of Special Assistant to President Clinton/Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council. Wilson was the acting ambassador to Baghdad, Iraq, and was responsible for freeing more than one hundred American hostages in Iraq after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. He will discuss his memior, The Politics of Truth, which includes his 2002 investigation into the report that Iraq was trying to buy uranium for nuclear weapons. Part of the World Affairs Series.

Looking for A Few Good Men - Leonard Pitts
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Leonard Pitts, Jr., is a syndicated columnist for the Miami Herald who writes on pop culture, social issues, and family life. His column runs every Monday and Friday and appears in the Des Moines Register. He is the author of Becoming Dad: Black Men and the Journey to Fatherhood and also wrote, produced, and syndicated "Who We Are," an award-winning 1988 radio documentary on the history of Black America. Pitts won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2004. His other awards include the American Society of Newspaper Editors prestigious ASNE Award For Commentary Writing (2001), the National Society of Newspaper Columnists' Columnist of the Year award (2002), and the GLAAD Media Outstanding Newspaper Columnist award (2002).

Darkness to Sunlight: The Life-Changing Journey of Zaid Abdul-Aziz
7:00 PM – Pioneer Room, Memorial Union - Zaid Abdul-Aziz, known as Don Smith before his conversion to Islam in 1973, was a three-time All-Big Eight basketball player for Iowa State and a two-time All-American. He was the fifth player taken in the 1968 NBA draft, selected by the Cincinnati Royals and traded during his rookie year to the Milwaukee Bucks. Zaid Abdul-Aziz played for the Sonics for two years before pericarditis - viral heart inflammation - forced him to give up the game. He now works as a chemical dependency professional in Seattle. Zaid Abdul-Aziz has five children, including Yusef Aziz, who played basketball for Seattle Pacific and professionally in Brazil. He is the author of Darkness to Sunlight: The Life-Changing Journey of Zaid Abdul-Aziz.

The Horizontal World: A Reading - Debra Marquart
11:00 AM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Debra Marquart, an associate professor of English at Iowa State, is a Pushcart Prize-winning writer and performance poet. Her memoir, The Horizontal World: Growing Up Wild in the Middle of Nowhere, was published in 2006. It explores her childhood growing up on a North Dakota farm. In the seventies and eighties, Marquart was a touring road musician with rock and heavy metal bands. Her collection of short stories, The Hunger Bone: Rock & Roll Stories, draws from her experiences as a female road musician. She continues to perform with a jazz-poetry rhythm & blues project, The Bone People, with whom she has released two CDs. Marquart is the author of two poetry collections, Everything's a Verb and From Sweetness, and is currently working on a novel set in Greece, titled "The Olive Harvest." Part of the Third Annual Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness & the Creative Imagination.

Biorenewables: Helping or Hurting the Environment? - Panel Discussion
9:00 AM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - As Iowa and other midwestern states promote a bioeconomy based on renewable fuels such as corn and cellulosic ethanol, researchers and policymakers are examining the environmental impact of current production practices and how to make such processes truly sustainable on a mass scale. This panel will address how the state's burgeoning biofuels industry is affecting the quality of the state's air, soil, and water. Panelists include Fred Kirschenmann, distinguished fellow of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and a professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion, Iowa State; Neila Seaman, director of the Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club; Sipho Ndlela, operations and research manager of the Mid-States Biodiesel, BECON Center (Nevada, IA); Chad Hart, head of Biorenewables Policy at the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, Iowa State; Robert C. Brown, director of the Office of Biorenewables Programs, Iowa State; Lee Honeycutt, associate professor of English, Iowa State. Part of the Third Annual Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness & the Creative Imagination.

Mountain Home, Prairie Home: Learning New Languages - James Pritchard
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - James Pritchard is an adjunct assistant professor at Iowa State with appointments in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management and the Department of Landscape Architecture. He is the author of Preserving Yellowstone's Natural Conditions: Science and the Perception of Nature, coauthor of A Green and Permanent Land: Ecology and Agriculture in the Twentieth Century, and coauthor of A Field Guide to Butterflies of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Pritchard's research interests start with environmental history and include science in the national parks, the history of animal ecology, the history of wildlife in North America, and the foundations of natural resource policy and management. He has a Ph.D. in environmental history and the history of science from the University of Kansas. Part of the Third Annual Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness & the Creative Imagination.

The Folklore of Home Ground - Panel Discussion
2:45 PM – Pioneer Room, Memorial Union - A panel discussion featuring four Iowa State University faculty members: Michael Whiteford, a professor of anthropology and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has conducted research in alternative curing practices and health-care decision-making processes in Latin America; James Dow, emeritus professor of German in the Department of World Languages and Cultures, is known for his research on the Old Order Amish of Kalona, Iowa, and the political use of folklore during the Nazi era in Germany and Austria; Nikki Bado-Fralick, an assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, has scholarly interests in ritual pedagogy and has conducted research on initiation rituals and the construction of sacred space within the Wiccan tradition; and Zora Zimmerman, a professor of English and associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has conducted research on the preservation and transmission of customs and beliefs, oral composition of narratives (particularly epic poetry in the Balkans), orality theory, and on the impact of folklore on ethnic identity. Panelists will consider several perspectives on "home ground" within the context of folklore and cultural study. Part of the Third Annual Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness & the Creative Imagination.

The Bell Project - Patrick Hazell
10:45 AM – Pioneer Room, Memorial Union - Musician Patrick Hazell grew up on the banks of the Mississippi River in Burlington, Iowa, a town of many beautiful church spires. Years later, this landscape inspired his unique Bell Projects, large-scale sound events featuring the interplay of church, fire station, school, and other bells found in urban environments. Hazell focuses on environmental sounds, both natural and machine-made. The project is intended, in part, to raise the awareness of noise pollution in our towns and cities. In his presentation, Hazell will also discuss elements of historical, urban sound environments and the importance of considering sound in urban development. Part of the Third Annual Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness & the Creative Imagination.

Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape - Panel Discussion
9:00 AM – Pioneer Room, Memorial Union - A panel discussion featuring contributors to Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape (2006), edited by National Book Award-winning Barry Lopez. The book features forty-five writers known for their intimate connection to particular places who, collectively, create a unique American dictionary. Panel moderator Debra Gwartney was managing editor for the book and is a member of the faculty at Portland State University and a former correspondent for Newsweek and The Oregonian. Bill McKibben is a former staff writer for the New Yorker and one of the nation's top environmental writers. Mary Swander is a professor of English at Iowa State and the author of ten books of poetry and nonfiction. Part of the Third Annual Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness, and the Creative Imagination.

Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future - Bill McKibben
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Bill McKibben is a former staff writer for the New Yorker. He is a well-known environmental writer whose books include The End of Nature; Hope, Human and Wild; Maybe One; Hundred Dollar Holiday; The Age of Missing Information, and his most recent, Wandering Home: A Long Walk through America's Most Hopeful Landscape. He is a frequent contributor to Harper's, the Atlantic Monthly, The New York Review of Books, Outside, and the New York Times. As the keynote speaker for the Third Annual Symposium for Wildness, Wilderness, and the Creative Imagination, McKibben offers a challenge to the prevailing view of our economy. For the first time in human history, "more" is no longer synonymous with "better." He puts forward a new way to think about the things we buy, the food we eat, the energy we use, and the money that pays for it all. For McKibben, our purchases need not be at odds with the things we truly value. Part of "Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape," the Third Annual Symposium on Wildness, Wilderness & the Creative Imagination.