Previous Lectures
2022
Veterans Series
A much smaller percentage of U.S. families have shouldered military service during the post-9/11 conflicts than at any other time in our nation’s history. Nearly 10% of Americans served in the military during World War II. Less than 1% serve today.
As a result, most civilians don’t fully appreciate what military service is all about. In fact, both military families and civilian families report difficulty understanding each other’s experiences. Stereotypes are prevalent, but opportunities for meaningful conversation are rare.
In 2022, we explored ways to better understand and support our veterans.
July 11, 2022
Bridging the Civilian and Military Divide
Doug Bradley & Leanne Knobloch
July 27, 2022.
Book Discussion: Learning to Stay
Erin Celello
The culture of agriculture:
Family, farms, and farming in a changing world
August 8, 2022
James Ridge and Sarah Day presented the poems of Daniel Smith, with farmers Kal Maxwell and Dale Clark sharing their stories.
Daniel Smith’s ANCESTRAL draws from the thirty years he farmed his family’s dairy farm. It explores a family’s deep attachment to the land, the physical work of farming, and the emotional disruption one endures when such a life is no longer sustainable.
The evening featured Daniel’s work and farmers’ response to it.
Being the change: Getting from concern to action
September 12, 2022
There's a lot to be concerned about in our world. The daily grind of issues and worries can feel overwhelming and impossible to change. But you can make a difference. You can, as Gandhi encouraged, "be the change you want to see in the world."
Rob Greenfield is an activist and humanitarian dedicated to leading the way to a more sustainable and just world.
A Decent Home: screening and conversation
October 3, 2022
The evening began with a screening of A Decent Home, a feature length documentary film that addresses urgent issues of class and economic inequity through the lives of mobile home park residents who can’t afford housing anywhere else.
Candi Evans, Iowa park resident and activist for manufactured home park issues, shared her experiences after the screening.
2021
Our 2021 series was made possible by funds provided by River Valley Arts (formerly the Spring Green Area Arts Coalition) & the Wisconsin Arts Board and by donations from you!
Mandy Morrill — The Power of Our Sibling Relationships Throughout Life
August 16, 2021
Mandy is the Program Director for Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Valparaiso University. She is also the sister of Joshua Morrill, whom these lectures are named for.
From Mandy: “This talk will explore how our sibling relationships (though largely minimized in importance) play a significant role in our emotional development and who we become. Personal experiences and reflections will be shared of how my brother, Joshua Morrill, played a significant role in who I am today, and how our relationship evolved into one of my strongest connections and supports as an adult.”
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Susan Futrell — A Democracy of Apples
September 20, 2021
Sue is an essayist and the author of Good Apples: Behind Every Bite.
The lecture is an exploration of the relationship between fostering resilient local food and farming, fostering a vibrant, healthy democracy, and the ways they are woven together in our history and culture. Apples are Susan’s touchstone for connecting these ideas, drawing on her work with apple growers here in the US, visits with apple growers in Indian-controlled Kashmir, and a lifelong love of orchards, apple trees, apples, and words. We hope listeners will find new reasons to love both apples and democracy and new determination to cherish and protect them both.
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Nickolas Butler — GODSPEED: The Practice & Ethic of Craft
October 4, 2021
Nick is the author of Shotgun Lovesongs, Beneath the Bonfire, Hearts of Men, Little Faith, and, most recently, Godspeed.
He discussed the frenzied writing of his newest novel GODSPEED, the process of selling the book, and the lessons learned from these events in the days preceding the Covid-19 pandemic, along with sharing some writings from the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram
2020
Ajay Sethi — Addressing misinformation one conversation at a time
July 27, 2020
Perhaps we have all noticed that in recent years many previously innocuous subjects, even ones related to protecting health, have become hot button topics. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Ajay Sethi teaches the popular course, Conspiracies in Public Health, to health professions and public health students. The goal of the class is to build skills in having conversations with people whose opinions might differ from their own. He explores the origins and adoption of misinformation and important ingredients in such conversations.
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Gavin Lawrence & Melisa Pereyra — Flipping the Script: The Role We Play
August 24, 2020
In conversations about race, people of color in communities all over the country are being asked to identify, dissect, and propose solutions to the questions white communities are unable to answer. In the River Valley, Melisa Pereyra and Gavin Lawrence, Core company actors at American Players Theatre, are often called upon to do just that. At first glance, this event represents an example of that sentiment.
However, this evening we are going to flip the script. Melisa and Gavin will share their autobiographical stories and then lead a conversation where the attendees will be answering questions about the roles they may play in either perpetuating systemic racism in our community or dismantling i
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2019
John Leland: Happiness, Aging, and the Lessons of the Oldest Old
July 25, 2019
`What's the secret to living a fuller, more content life? For John Leland, an award-winning New York Times reporter and author of the New York Times bestseller "Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons from a Year among the Oldest Old," the answer came from an unexpected place: from the lives of six people age 85 and up. He expected them to educate him in the hardships of old age. Instead, they taught him lessons of resilience, gratitude, purpose and perspective that apply to people of any age. All had lost something – spouses, mobility, their keen eyesight or hearing. But none had lost everything. And they defined their lives by the things they could still do, not by what they had lost.
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Pardeep Kaleka: Healing after Hate
August 29, 2019
Over the years, mass shootings and hate crimes have been on the rise in the U.S. As a survivor of one of the deadliest race-based hate crimes committed by an affiliated white supremacist, Pardeep will share his personal journey and the communal impact that violence has had on our collective psyche and the increased importance to address all violence from a holistic public health framework.
Katherine Cramer: Listening Well in a World that Turns Away
September 26, 2019
Katherine “Kathy” Cramer is a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her work focuses on the way people in the United States make sense of politics and their place in it. She is known for her innovative approach to the study of public opinion, in which she uses methods like inviting herself into the conversations of groups of people to listen to the way they understand public affairs. She is the author most recently of The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness and the Rise of Scott Walker.
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