First Wednesdays 2010-2011

“Sharing Our Past — Shaping Our Future” Since 1974

St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, 1171  Main Street, St. Johnsbury, 7:00 p.m. on the first Wednesday of every month. Library phone: 802.748.8291

 

St. Johnsbury schedule (PDF)

 

October 6 ~ Poetry’s Spiritual Language. Using the poetry of Dickinson, Kenyon, Rumi, and Kabir—poets from diverse religious traditions—Dartmouth professor Nancy Jay Crumbine examines poetry’s language of spirituality.

 

November 3 ~ In Search of Nirvana: Rock-’n’-Roll Religion. George Dennis O’Brien, former president of Bucknell University and the University of Rochester, examines the story of legendary grunge band Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, which offers insight into the world of rock, its promise, and its dangers.

 

December 1 ~ The Rumor That Almost Started the Revolution Two Years Earlier. Distinguished Northwestern University professor T. H. Breen examines the role ordinary New Englanders—including Vermonters—played in 1774 in pressuring the Continental Congress for more assertive and radical resistance to Great Britain.

       Sponsor: Passumpsic Savings Bank Member FDIC

 

January 5 ~ Vermont’s State House at 150 Years. Vermont State Curator David Schutz explores the architectural, cultural, and political significance of one of the nation’s oldest and best-preserved capitol buildings. Sponsor: TruexCullins Architecture + Interior Design

 

February 2 ~ Reconstructing Honor. Aine Donovan, executive director of Dartmouth’s Ethics Institute, considers the meaning of honor in a world of rapidly changing social norms and presents a roadmap for reconstructing the idea of honor.

 

March 2 ~ The Two Vermonts: Then and Now. Professor and author Paul Searls examines the cultural and political perspectives that have long existed between Vermont’s “uphill” farmers married to tradition, and “downhill” villagers working for reform.

 

April 6 ~ The Obama Administration and the Middle East. Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign promised change both at home and abroad. Journalist and UVM lecturer Gordon Robison examines whether the Obama Administration’s approach to one key area of the world—the Middle East—differs from its predecessor’s.

 

May 4 ~ Journey Toward Insight: Diaries and Letters of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1947–1986. Author Reeve Lindbergh discusses collecting for publication four decades of previously unpublished diaries and letters written by her mother, Anne Morrow Lindbergh—shedding light on her mother’s marriage to Charles Lindbergh and her take on key world events. Sponsor: Bill and Sharon Biddle

 

 

Program Sponsors:

Bill and Sharon Biddle

Passumpsic Savings Bank Member FDIC

TruexCollins Architecture + Interior Design

 

Library Sponsor:

Friends of St. Johnsbury Athenaeum / Secondhand Prose

St. Johnsbury