New Year’s Resolution: Educate, Participate, Provocate in January
January 23 — IPS Superindendent Eugene White on the challenges of educating kids in Indianapolis. Superindendant of Indianapolis Public Schools: everyone expects and reveres him, but no one wants his job. check it out
January 23 — What will be the end-game for the U.S. in Iraq? Will the US pull back from Iraq, in whatever condition it may find itself? Or will we be debating “the endgame in Iraq” 20 years from now? Local Mid-East expert Pierre Atlas knows. check it out
January 24 — “Caring About Our Communities” Drs. Davis, Hunt and Jenkins, fondly known as The Three Doctors, claim to serve as an extraordinary model of leadership for anyone who’s been through any kind of life challenge or major hardship. Their message: dads matter more than doctors. check it out
January 24 — Documentary filmmaker Alison Wotherspoon. Alison Wotherspoon is a documentary film maker and head of production at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. Her work on anti-bullying is considered a model of how film and video can change damaging behavior by kids. check it out
January 24 — The Security & Prosperity Partnership of North America In a meeting in Waco on March 23, 2005, Paul Martin (Prime Minister of Canada), Vicente Fox (President of Mexico), and George W. Bush formed a partnership called The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America (SPP). They had to know it would set off all of the tin-foil hats of paranoids who are convinced that we are slouching toward a United States of North America … so why do it in Waco? check it out
January 25 — Forum on Kenya: UNDERSTANDING AND ACTING, GLOBALLY. Recent elections in Kenya were complacently assumed to be yet more proof that Kenya has made emerged as the most stable democracy in Africa. 500 dean Kenyans later, what have we learned? And what can we do to help rebuild and heal? check it out
January 26 — Eiteljorg Symposium on Wounded Knee “Wounded Knee” was the site of the last armed conflict between the US government and the Lakota Sioux in 1890, resulting in some 146 dead; more than 80 years after the massacre, beginning on February 27, 1973, Wounded Knee was also the site of a 71-day standoff between federal authorities and militants of the American Indian Movement. Eiteljorg is bringing veterans of the latter to discuss what the incidents at Wounded Knee mean to us all. check it out
January 26 — Moiseyev Russian Dance Company. The late and unlamented Soviet Union left behind more than a demographic disaster and a tendency toward authoritarian rule in its successor states. It bequeathed on Russia some fantastic articistic organizations, and one of the best is the 70-year old Moiseyev Russian Dance Company. check it out
January 26 — “Global Warning: An Environment for Change?” IUPUI’s Dean’s Day combines the faculties of the School of Liberal Arts and the School of Science to examine facets of global climate change. Hope you are an IUPUI alumnus and can attend, it should be good. check it out
January 25 & 26 — Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra performs “Incident at Wounded Knee” Native American composer “Stands With Eagles” Dr. Louis W. Ballard (July 8, 1931 – February 9, 2007) made it his life’s mission to illuminate the unique motivations behind Native American music. His piano concerto “Incident at Wounded Knee” is “an evocation of the traditions and moods of the Indian people.” check it out
January 28 — “Taiwan and the U.S. - Partners in Security, Prosperity, and Democracy” Rapidly growing, ambitious, and unpredictable … China got you worried? Chances are no one worries more and thinks more clearly than the Taiwanese. Hear their virtual ambassador to the US explain their concerns, and why the US needs a strong friend in Taiwan. check it out
January 29 — World Trade Club honors its Global Business Person of the Year. With the rapid increase in Indiana’s international business linkages, who will be the “Global Business Person of the Year”? Think “Cummins.” check it out
January 28 — Religious, Political and Tribal Conflicts in Africa Believe the headlines and one would think that the entire continent of Africa is engulfed perpetually in armed conflicts. It is important to put conflicts in African nations into perspective—in regional and global terms—and to exercise extreme caution in drawing conclusions about these conflicts that one would not apply to the incredible devastation of the “world wars” between Western powers in this century or to the social and economic toll that the innocent citizens of many nations have paid as a result of the cold-war arms race between the superpowers. check it out
January 29 — Former US ambassador Robert Oakley on “Pakistan: What’s Next?” One of the most familiar figures commenting about Pakistan on cable news TV, former Ambassador Robert Oakleywill tell us just how frightened we should be of the disintegration of a nuclear-armed Pakistan. check it out
January 30 — “Is India Still a Secular Country?” India recently celebrated its 60th anniversary as a country. Six decades is a long time for such a religiously-fragmented and religiously-passionate country to stay secular … how much longer can it keep it up? check it out
January 30 — The European Union at 50. Now comprising 25 nations and 450 million citizens, the EU has more people, more wealth, and more votes on every international body than the United States. It eschews military force but offers guaranteed health care and free university educations. And some see the new “United States of Europe” as determined to be a superpower. Yup. check it out
January 31 — Conversations with GOD It has been rumored the The Almighty hangs out at Center Stage Cafe in Indianapolis, usually waiting to take the mic on Spoke N Heard Tuesdays. Now it looks like he’ll be joining a Mosaic international conversation cafe. check it out
January 31 — The Heart’s Imperative: Reclaiming Integrity & Courage in Professional and Public Life. Parker Palmer believes that those professions that draw people who wish to serve, that call on the heart — professions such as teaching, or health care, or politics, or provocating — can erode the heart over time. How to renew and restore? If that isn’t enough to get you to the discussion, how about Carrie Newcomer? check it out
