Chautauqua

This is a vacation Doug and I want to take some Summer. My mother used to talk about the Chautauqua Educational Movement and she even had a writing board and educational materials from the 1800s that she bought at an antique auction. Chautauqua is all about spiritual renewal, art, education and instruction. People travelled to Chautauqua, NY to hear lectures and participate in spa and restorative treatments along with receiving spiritual instruction. There was time for reflection and renewal. The Chautauqua movement spread out all over this country so that people who couldn't travel or leave their farms could participate in this type of artistic, spiritual and educational immersion.

Here is some information from their website:

http://www.ciweb.org/

The Chautauqua Institution is a not-for-profit, 750-acre educational center beside Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York State, where approximately 7,500 persons are in residence on any day during a nine-week season, and a total of over 142,000 attend scheduled public events.

The Institution, originally the Chautauqua Lake Sunday School Assembly, was founded in 1874 as an educational experiment in out-of-school, vacation learning. It was successful and broadened almost immediately beyond courses for Sunday school teachers to include academic subjects, music, art and physical education.

Chautauqua plays a unique educational role today, offering studies on a vacation level, a more serious level and a professional level. In addition, there are enhanced learning opportunities within Chautauqua's other programming. Music, the arts, religion, recreation and the pursuit of knowledge are all available. Younger and older students often share learning experiences in an open, congenial atmosphere. Children and young people are also provided with their own special programs.

Many of the visitors who return to Chautauqua year after year describe it as an experience rather than a vacation -- a place for renewal. The Chautauqua Institution was founded on the belief that everyone “has a right to be all that he can be -- to know all that he can know.”

2008 Program:

• Week 1 June 21-28Sport in AmericaRoger Goodell, long-time Chautauquan and commissioner of the National Football League, will be among the featured lecturers in Week One. Sport looms large in the American culture, whether from an economic perspective or through the lens of its impact on our lifestyles and customs. Fun, competitive, entertaining? Yes. But big business too. Some estimates tag the sports business industry in the U.S. at over $300 billion annually. From youth and amateur athletics to college sports to the pros, we will examine the economics and the impact of sports on our cities, our youth, education, and culture. We will look at Title 9, the influence of television and escalating salaries, and the future of Olympic sports. And we will explore whether the interest of the general fan has been eclipsed by big money.
• Week 2 June 29 - July 5Restoring Legitimacy to our Election SystemMost Americans are both proud and grateful to live in a free and democratic country. But many are growing disenchanted with our system of electing a president. Are these concerns valid? If so, how do we go about restoring integrity into our election system? This week we'll look at some of the basic mechanisms that impact our political system and how they might be improved, including campaign finance, timing and duration of primaries, voter registration, the popular vote vs. the Electoral College and how we encourage or discourage citizen participation. Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and co-director of the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project, will be with us during this week as both a presenter and facilitator.
• Week 3 July 6-12Roger Rosenblatt and Friends: On WritingEssayist, author, playwright and television commentator Roger Rosenblatt has lectured nine times from Chautauqua Institution's Amphitheater platform. For this week on writing, Roger will be joined by his friends and fellow authors E.L. Doctorow, Joyce Carol Oates, and Amy Tan, and poet Billy Collins and cartoonist Garry Trudeau.
• Week 4 July 13-19The Ethical Frontiers of ScienceThere are no shortages of ethical dilemmas arising from rapid advances in biomedical sciences and new discoveries about how the mind works. What are the prospects that new drugs and genetic discoveries will enable us to improve our memories, moods, and cognitive abilities? Should science aim only at treating disease or also at enhancing our mental and physical capacities, and those of our children? Is there a risk that new genetic technologies will lead to the quest for "designer children?" Are we on the verge of discovering a biological basis for morality, and if so, does this pose a threat to familiar notions of free will and moral responsibility? This week, Harvard professor Michael Sandel will help us explore the growing public debate at the intersection of ethics, biotechnology, and public policy. We'll hear from bioethics experts and scientists to help us think through the social and ethical implications of biological and biomedical advances.
• Week 5 July 20-26American Foreign Policy: Leadership and DialogueSince 1945, the United States has constructed its foreign policy around the fault lines of the demise of British colonialism, the contest with Communism and most recently the confrontation with terrorism. We will consider those historic roots and their influence on the current play of American interests on such issues as access to energy, markets, human rights and issues of military security. We will hear voices from other countries expressing their perspectives on U.S. foreign policy, and we will engage in dialogue about the prospects for the future.
• Week 6 July 27-August 2Healing the GlobeIn this Global Village, the health of one affects the health of all. In partnership with the Global Health Council, we will examine such twenty-first century challenges as maternal and child health, AIDS, TB, malaria, diseases related to global warming, the consequences of natural disasters, and response mechanisms to famine and pandemics. We will bring to the platform powerful voices who have invested themselves and their resources in this struggle for a healthy world.
• Week 7 August 3-9Faith in Public LifeThe United States is one of the most religiously plural nations in the world. The Abrahamic religions differ widely within and among their respective traditions, especially with regard to whether religion is solely a private matter or has a role to play in public life. In this year of national elections, the compelling questions become: How best are different religious perspectives expressed in the give and take of democracy, and what is the responsibility of people of faith in a democracy?
• Week 8 August 10-16What's For Dinner: Food and Politics in the 21st CenturyFood - from the old family recipe to the culinary arts - consumes a central role in our lives and is our most intimate and direct connection to nature. It elicits both passion and guilt, it comforts and satisfies, it sustains the body and is a source of beauty and art. What we eat and how it arrives in our kitchens and restaurants is also influenced by political and economic decisions. From the 100-mile diet, five-star restaurants and peppy television chefs to giant agri-business, this week will add context to our understanding of how food is produced, biologically altered and distributed, the rise of organic agriculture and the simple joys of eating.
• Week 9 August 17-23Darwin and Linnaeus: Their Impact on Our View of the Natural World2009 will mark the celebration of Darwin's 200th birthday as well as the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species. The public debate surrounding his theory of evolution seems to have diminished little in that span of time. This week we will focus on all that has followed, including the scientific, social, religious and legal ramifications of Darwin's work. In addition, this year marks the 250th anniversary of the 1758 publication of Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus' system for giving Latin names to animals, indeed, cataloging the natural world. We will consider the legacy of that important work as well.