C O N C O R D C O N V O C A T I O N 2 0 0 9
Civil Diplomacy In & For Our Time:
Building Bridges of Understanding Between the Left and the Right
"A house divided against itself cannot stand."
Abraham Lincoln
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2009
"The reason why the world lacks unity and lies broken and in heaps is because man is disunited with himself. He cannot be a naturalist, until he satisfies all the demands of the spirit. Love is as much its demand as perception. . . ." (quotation continues below)
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature
FESTIVE OPENING
Concord School of Philosophy, on the Grounds of Orchard House,
Home of the Alcotts, 399 Lexington Rd, Concord, MA 01742
(Note: Dress warmly. The school is the original building, blessed, but unheated.)
7:00 pm: Welcome & Brief History of the Concord School: Stuart-Sinclair Weeks, Founder, Center for American Studies at Concord.
Keynote Offering & Conversation: How to Build Foundations for Confidence & Understanding between Extremes.
Speaker: Oskar Borgman Hansen, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, University of Aarhus, Denmark and author of Cultural Strife.
Musical Conclusion: Violinist, Alexander Romanuel.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17
". . . Indeed, neither can be perfect without the other. In the uttermost meaning of the words, thought is devout, and devotion is thought. Deep calls upon deep, but in actual life the marriage is not celebrated. . . . " (quotation continues ...)
9:00 10:30: Convening of the Convocation in the Spirit of the Concord School
Location: Trustee Room, Concord Free Public Library, 129 Main St., Concord Center
11:00 12:30: Offering & Conversation with Representatives of the Left & the Right on Death: The Death Penalty Debate
Moderator: Rick Ruffin, Social and Criminal Investigator
Speakers:
Alan Rom, Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division and member of the Board of Mass Citizens Against the Death Penalty
David Stephens, Retired Chemical Engineer, Masters in Philosophy & Divinity, and Doctor of Systematic Theology, Boston College.
Location: Trustee Room, Concord Free Public Library, 129 Main St., Concord Center
12:30 3:00: Lunch in Concord and time for reflection, relaxation, and visits to historic sites.
3:00 5:00: Afternoon Conversation: Enlarging Upon the Experience of Death: MozartΉs Requiem.
Location: Trustee Room, Concord Free Public Library, 129 Main St., Concord Center
5:00 7:00: Dinner in Concord
7:00: Music: Singing on the Gallows, Dillon Bustin, Folklorist & Performer
Evening Offering: The World Views of the Left & Right
Speaker: John Stirling Walker, Co-Founder, Institute for Hypostatic Science
Location: Concord School of Philosophy on the Grounds of Orchard House. See opening evening; dress warmly.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18
". . . There are innocent men who worship God after the tradition of their fathers, but their sense of duty has not yet extended to the use of all their faculties. And there are patient naturalists, but they freeze their subject under the wintry light of the understanding. . . ." (quotation continues ...)
9:00 10:30: Concord Citizens' Perspectives on the Health Care Divide
Location: Concord School of Philosophy on the Grounds of Orchard House. See opening evening; dress warmly.
11:00 12:30: Concord Health Care Professionals' Perspectives on the Health Care Divide
Location: Concord School of Philosophy on the Grounds of Orchard House. See opening evening; dress warmly.
12:30 3:00: Lunch in Concord and time for reflection, relaxation, and visits to historic sites.
3:00 5:00: Community Forum on the Health Care Divide
The convocation concludes with a Community Forum on "The Enduring Promise of Health Care Reform: Bridging the Divide." Introductions by Rep. Cory Atkins (D) and Sandi Martinez (R) State Committeewoman. Speakers: Judy Deutsch, Chair of the MA League of Women Voters Health Care Committee; Bill Vernon, State Director, National Federation of Independent Business; Dr. James Bohn, former Staff Economist at the FED Board of Governors, emphasis on the insurance industry; Dr. Henry Vaillant, Chair, Department of Medicine, Emerson Hospital. Representatives of the Left & Right "in concert". Audience discussion follows.
In the Concord Spirit, a "trans-partisan" performance with Alexander Romanuel and Lawrence Franko of Bach's Double Concerto for 2 Violins sounds the final note!
Location: Harvey Wheeler Community Center, 1276 Main St., West Concord. (Please park in the back of the building)
". . . But, when a faithful thinker, resolute to detach every object from personal relations,
and see it in the light of thought, shall, at the same time, kindle science with the fire
of the holiest affections, then will God go forth anew into the creation."
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature
There is no fee for the convocation.
For further information, contact Stuart Weeks at 978-369-3733 or stuartbweeks@gmail.com
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