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SPRING 2019
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JANUARY 7 8, 15, 22, 29 12 21 25-26
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Communitas Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary The Cowan Vision of Liberal Learning for All 14th Annual MLK Symposium Cowan Center Conference
FEBRUARY 4 5 8 9 12 18 19 20 26
Communitas The Historians Ben Franklin Circle The Cowan Vision of Liberal Learning for All Breakfast Book Group Speaking of Movies Malcolm X: An Overwhelming Influence of the Black Power Movement Lunch Book Group Boundaries and Borders: Language
MARCH 1 2 4 5 7, 14, 21, 28 8 12 13 18 20 22 23 26
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Classics at Cour Regard: Independent People The Cowan Vision of Liberal Learning for All Communitas The Historians Seminar: a History of Revolutionary Ideas Friday Night Salon Breakfast Book Group Sophocles’ Philoctetes Speaking of Movies Lunch Book Group North Texas Humanities Consortium Writing Our Memories, Riting Our Myth, Righting Our Lives Boundaries and Borders: Art
1 2 3, 10, 17, 24 6 8,9 12 15 16 17 23 27 30
Communitas The Historians Paradise Lost: the West’s Epic of Good and Evil The Cowan Vision of Liberal Learning for All Poetry in America: a Reading and Roundtable Ben Franklin Circle Speaking of Movies Breakfast Book Group Lunch Book Group El Dia de la Lengua: Spanish Literature and Music What’s Ahead: the View from Routh Street Boundaries and Borders: The City
MAY 2, 9, 16, 23 3 6 7 10 14 15 20 28 29 30 31
Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart Classics at Cour Regard: Dante’s Divine Comedy Communitas The Historians Friday Night Salon Breakfast Book Group Lunch Book Group Speaking of Movies Dallas Festival of Books and Ideas City Track 1 DFBI City Track 2 DFBI City Track 3 DFBI City Track 4
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FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
IN SPRING WE WILL CELEBRATE POETRY The Dallas Institute is a nonprofit organization whose fundamental aim is to bring the wisdom and imagination of the humanities—literature, history, psychology, philosophy, political science, and other human-focused disciplines—to bear on the currents of culture. It is devoted to creating communities within which learning can occur through civil discourse.
To make a large claim: poetry is the source and origin of Western civilization and culture. Since Homer’s epic poems established him as “teacher of the Greeks,” poetry in its various forms has continually shaped us in ways of which we are mostly unaware, to greater or lesser degrees depending on its waxing or waning fortunes from age to age. But poetry has never left us, and it never will; it is neither fad nor fashion but an eternal presence. As Institute Founding Fellow Dr. Louise Cowan wrote shortly before her death in 2015, though poetry “remains virtually impotent in the practical affairs of society, it is necessary to human culture, a protection of the channel between word and thing, between heaven and earth, elevating the human to the workings of the spirit.” In April we will welcome three widely acclaimed, award-winning poets to the Institute—Dana Gioia, Fred Turner, and James Matthew Wilson—for a two-night immersion in poetry, both to read their work and to lead us in discussing poetry’s current status and its future in America.
DR. KING AND MALCOLM X The 14th annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Symposium on MLK Day will focus on an issue that reaches back to Reconstruction: the mass incarceration of African Americans. Great emphasis has been placed recently on this issue by leading voices in the continuing struggle for racial justice begun by Dr. King and others in the 1950’s— such voices as Michelle Alexander, Bryan Stevenson, and James Forman. Prof. Forman, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, will be keynote speaker for the Symposium, following which, in February, Black History Month, the Institute will offer a screening of a new film from Thomas Muhammad and Jorge Baldor, both of Dallas: Malcolm X: an Overwhelming Influence on the Black Power Movement.
NEW: THE DALLAS FESTIVAL OF BOOKS AND IDEAS Since 2015, The Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Institute have conducted annual city-wide festivals presenting ideas aimed at enriching and deepening the practical life of the city. During each of its four years, the Dallas Festival of Ideas has occurred at a different venue in the city, most recently, in April 2018, at the Downtown branch of the Dallas Public Library, co-locating with the Dallas Book Festival conducted by the Library. In 2019, the two festivals will integrate their talents and resources to become the newly conceived, week-long Dallas Festival of Books and Ideas. Beginning Tuesday after Memorial Day (May 27), the four city tracks—the Literary City, the Physical City, Science in the City, and the Welcoming City—will be featured on successive evenings, each at a different venue in the city, culminating in a Celebration of Books on Saturday, June 1st, at the Dallas Public Library and the Dallas Museum of Art.
INSTITUTE LEADERSHIP
J. Larry Allums, Ph.D Executive Director
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J. LARRY ALLUMS, PH.D. is Executive Director of the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. He earned his M.A. in Literature and his Ph.D. in Literature and Political Philosophy from the University of Dallas’ Institute of Philosophic Studies. He came to the Dallas Institute in 1998 from the University of Mobile, where he was Professor of English and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He has edited a volume of essays on epic poetry, The Epic Cosmos, and published articles on ancient Greek and Roman literature, Dante, and writers of the American Southern renascence, including William Faulkner, Allen Tate, Robert Penn Warren, and Caroline Gordon. Under his leadership, the Dallas Institute continues to emphasize its commitment to urban issues and its longstanding work with pre-K through 12th grade elementary and secondary school teachers, principals, and superintendents.
CLAUDIA MACMILLAN, PH.D. is Founding Director of e Louise and Donald Cowan Center for Education at the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture. She is editor of and contributor to What is a Teacher? Remembering the Soul of Education Through Classic Literature and has published on such topics as William Faulkner’s comic novels and the poetry of the Harlem Renaissance. She began teaching in 1981 and has served in the high school classroom and administrative offices—as a teacher, department chair, and Dean of Curriculum and Instruction—and also in the university—as a Visiting Assistant Professor of English, and Associate Dean of both the Braniff Graduate School and the Constantin Undergraduate College at the University of Dallas. She holds the Ph.D. in Literature from the University of Dallas and is an alumna of the 1989-1990 Summer Institutes for Teachers at the Dallas Institute.
INSTITUTE FELLOWS AND GUEST SPEAKERS
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SPRING 2019
MR. JORGE BALDOR was born in Havana, Cuba, and lives in Dallas. He supports organizations practicing collaborative solutions that encourage community engagement.
PROF. RAY HUGHEL is the Economic Education Specialist at the William J. O’Neil for Global Markets and Freedom at SMU’s Cox School of Business.
DR. RENÉ PRIETO is Professor of Arts and Humanities at UT Dallas and a Guggenheim Fellow. Fluent in five languages, he is a specialist in 19th and 20th century literature and humanities.
MR. GROVER WILKINS is Founding Artistic Director of the Orchestra of New Spain in Dallas, a professional period-instrument baroque orchestra and chorus created in 1989.
DR. SCOTT CHURCHILL is an Institute Fellow, Professor of Psychology at the University of Dallas, and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. He also teaches film at UD.
MR. TOM HUANG is assistant managing editor for features and community engagement at The Dallas Morning News and content co-planner for the Dallas Festival of Books and Ideas.
DR. DENNIS PATRICK SLATTERY is a Fellow of the Dallas Institute and currently Emeritus Faculty member in the Mythological Studies Program at Pacifica Graduate Institute.
MR. BRIAN WILSON is a Marine veteran and Co-Founder of Combat and Classics, which explores the nature of man in conflict and cooperation through drama and dialogue.
PROF. JAMES FORMAN, JR. is a leading critic of mass incarceration and its disproportionate impact on people of color. He is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America.
DR. DONNA McBRIDE has taught history for almost forty years at both the secondary and university levels and science fiction at the university level.
MR. MARCUS STIMAC is a member of Shakespeare Dallas and will perform as Odysseus and Herakles in the March 13th dramatic reading of Sophocles’ Philoctetes.
PROF. JAMES MATTHEW WILSON is Associate Professor of Religion and Literature at Villanova University. He is author of several poetry collections and recipient of the 2017 Hiett Prize.
MR. DANA GIOIA is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning poet. Former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, he currently serves as the Poet Laureate of California.
MR. THOMAS MUHAMMED is a Dallas native, an Executive Board Member of the National Voting Rights Museum & Institute in Selma, AL, and Dallas Chairman of the National Black United Front.
DR. RODNEY TEAGUE works at the Dallas VA Medical Center to promote a highly contextual approach to wellness among veterans and their families. He is a Dallas Institute Fellow.
MR. STEVEN YOUNG is a member of Shakespeare Dallas and will perform in the March 13th dramatic reading of Sophocles’ Philoctetes.
MR. MATT HOLMES is an artist who works both as an actor on stage and in front of the camera. He will perform as Neoptolemus in the March 13th dramatic reading of Sophocles’ Philoctetes.
MS. ONYEMA NWEZE has been a public school educator for over 20 years and holds a Masters in Humanities from University of Dallas. Her scholarly focus is in 20th century AfricanAmerican writers.
PROF. FREDERICK TURNER is Founders Professor of Arts and Humanities at UT-Dallas, an Institute Fellow, and awardwinning author of numerous volumes of criticism and poetry.
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PRESENTED BY JORGE BALDOR AND THOMAS MUHAMMAD
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: JAMES FORMAN, JR.
MALCOLM X: SPRING 2019 EVENTS
AN OVERWHELMING INFLUENCE ON THE BLACK POWER MOVEMENT A new documentary film about a Civil Rights Icon. Next to Martin Luther King, Jr., his contemporary and nemesis Malcolm X was arguably the most controversial figure of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s. Outspoken in his conviction that there is “no such thing as a non-violent revolution” and that AfricanAmericans should fight the oppression of racism “by any means necessary,” including violence, Malcolm X stood openly opposed to Rev. King’s conciliatory methods. Yet there is much more to Malcolm X’s story, including the radical change he underwent before his assassination in 1965. The full story of a crucial figure in Civil Rights history is poignantly captured in this acclaimed new film, directed by Dallas’ Thomas Muhammad and coproduced by Mr. Muhammad and Dallas’ Jorge Baldor.
T H E 1 4 TH A N N U A L
MLK SYMPOSIUM: PURSUING RACIAL ST JUSTICE IN 21 CENTURY AMERICA January 21, 7:00 – 8:45pm
$20
The Dallas Institute continues its tradition of beginning the New Year with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium, which emphasizes the continuing impact of Dr. King’s legacy on civil rights in American.
February 19, 6:30 - 8:30pm — Reception 6:00pm
Our keynote speaker, James Forman, Jr., is a former public defender and son of a prominent 1960’s Civil Rights leader. In his Pulitzer Prizewinning book Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, Forman addresses the issue of mass incarceration and its disproportionate impact on people of color. As Forman writes, “Mass incarceration wasn’t created overnight; its components were assembled piecemeal over a forty-year period.” As in past years, the program will be multifaceted, featuring performances and a panel discussion following the keynote address.
$20 Educators and Students free
Educators and Students free
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GUEST SPEAKERS, ACTORS, MUSICIANS, AND CUISINE
BOUNDARIES AND BORDERS Presented by The Dallas Morning News, PEN America, the Dallas Institute, and the Dallas Festival of Books and Ideas Borders and boundaries have become a source of concern for people worldwide. A border is a limit, a line that marks an end, keeps things in or out. As Robert Frost’s poem famously states, “Good fences make good neighbors.” But that is only one side of the story. A border marks not only an end but also a beginning on the other side, that which is not so familiar to us. The Spanish word for border is frontera, the French frontière, in each case denoting an expanse beyond what we know, a new horizon of possibilities. A border is also a margin and a periphery — spaces outside the normal range of our vision that yield their own riches. As the website of our partner PEN America puts it: “The topic of borders and boundaries has been at the forefront of people’s minds, and it is important that these borders remain open, so that ideas, dreams, stories, and people can cross them easily, adding to the richness on either side.” In this three-part series, we will examine positive aspects of borders Session 1: Language
CLASSICS AT COUR REGARD
February 26, 7:00 - 8:30pm Venue: The Dallas Morning News Auditorium Session 2: Art March 26, 7:00 - 8:30pm Venue: The Pan-African Connection Bookstore Session 3: The City April 30, 7:00 - 8:30pm, Reception 6:30pm Venue: The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture
March 1, 6:30 - 8:30pm Halldor Laxness’ Icelandic Epic Independent People May 3, 6:30 - 8:30pm Dante’s Divine Comedy
FREE ADMISSION
$60
Registration required
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$30 for Educator Members
Perhaps the most distinctive space — and certainly the most original — on the Institute campus is Cour Regard, named for loyal and generous supporter Betty Regard. Built by a Dallas businessman whose early success enabled him to pursue his heart’s desire to operate a bookstore, The History Merchant came into being, an architectural marvel put together throughout with pegs except for the wrought-iron floor nails. For the Dallas Institute, it has become a cherished space, home to dramatic and musical performances, including a mainstay program: Classics at Cour Regard. Part performance and part scholarly exploration, with food and beverage to fit the occasion, each Classics program offers a 21st century perspective on iconic literature through multifaceted celebrations of classic texts.
PRESENTED BY BRIAN WILSON, DR. RODNEY TEAGUE, AND ACTORS
SOPHOCLES’ PHILOCTETES A Dramatic Reading and Discussion in Cour Regard You are alone on a desert island and suffering from a wound that will not heal. Day after day you drag your body in and out of a cave to hunt what little food you can manage to discover. You were once a great Greek warrior, but then your comrades cast you out on this island to die. Suddenly, after many years, the Greeks return — solely because they need you for one last mission: in fact, it turns out that you are the key to defeating Troy after a decade of continual fighting. But what’s left of you as a man and a warrior after these years alone? Why would you help the people who abandoned you to this fate? Is this even real, or have you begun to lose your mind from sickness, hunger, and loneliness? Join us in Cour Regard for Sophocles’ powerful Philoctetes, featuring Steven Young, Marcus Stimac, and Matt Holmes. This event is a continuation of our new series The Classics on Stage, dramatic readings of classic plays performed by professional actors and followed by audience discussion with topical authorities, on this occasion Combat & Classics Co-Founder and Marine veteran Brian Wilson and Veterans Affairs Psychologist Dr. Rodney Teague. March 13, 6:30 - 8:00pm — Reception 6:00pm Venue: Cour Regard at the Dallas Institute
A WRITING WORKSHOP WITH DR. DENNIS PATRICK SLATTERY
WRITING OUR MEMORIES, RITING OUR MYTH, RIGHTING OUR LIVES The details of a life are themselves to be opened out so we can feel the archetypes playing under them. — Joseph Campbell Each of us is an amalgam of: a life lived, a life remembered, and a life storied. In this trinity, memory mingles with myth in a way that the ancient Greeks called mimesis, or “imitation,” which is at the heart of our myth-making impulse, transforming the past into memory. Writing is an intimate and forceful mode of remembering what we have not sufficiently shaped into a coherent form. In this retreat featuring new readings and exercises, we will draw on our own re-membered life events and give them a form, in some instances for the first time, primarily through writing, but also through offering the soul various other venues in which to imagine. March 23, 9:00am - 12:00pm; 1:30 - 4:30pm — Reception 6:00pm
$25
$80
$20 for Members $10 for Educators and Students
$65 for Members $30 for Educator Members
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PRESENTED BY POETS FREDERICK TURNER, DANA GIOIA, JAMES MATTHEW WILSON
POETRY IN AMERICA: A READING AND A ROUNDTABLE In 1888, British poet Matthew Arnold said that “the future of poetry is immense.” Arnold spoke of a heritage that had already spanned hundreds of years, but there are signs that his words might be true now of a much younger tradition — poetry in America. A 2018 NEA study indicates that the readership for poetry in America has more than doubled in the last few years — a change led, in large part, by young people. Poetry is our civilization’s oldest and most enduring art form, one uniquely endowed with the ability to appeal to a broad, diverse public and to deepen our culture with its capacity to express the most profound experiences of human life. During this two-day program, the Dallas Institute will convene Dallas leaders and citizens to discuss the role poetry can play in renewing and strengthening American culture, and to hear the work of three distinguished American poets: Dana Gioia, Frederick Turner, and James Matthew Wilson. April 8, Rountable, 6:30 - 8:00pm April 9, Reading, 6:30 - 8:00pm — Receptions 6:00pm
EL DÍA DE LA LENGUA: SPANISH LITERATURE AND MUSIC Presented by the Orchestra of New Spain and the Dallas Institute April 23, 1616, is an important date in both English and Spanish cultural history, for on that same day, both William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes died. But to the Spanish-speaking world, it is also “El Día de la Lengua Española” — the UN-proclaimed Day of the Spanish Language. The aim of this Día de la Lengua celebration presented by the Dallas Institute and Dallas’ Orchestra of New Spain is to address the literary riches of half our Western Hemisphere in words and music. The literary aspect of the program will focus on three Iber-American heavy-weights — the Peruvian writers Isabel Allende and Mario Vargas-Llosa, and the Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda — while Artistic Director Grover Wilkins will curate and direct related musical selections performed by soloists of the Orchestra of New Spain. April 23, 6:30 - 8:00pm — Reception 6:00pm Venue: Cour Regard
$60 FOR BOTH EVENTS $35 SINGLE EVENT $40/Both, $25/Single for Members $15/Both, $10/Single for Educator Members Students Free
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$35 $20 for Members $10 for Educator Members and Students
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A DALLAS INSTITUTE FELLOWS SYMPOSIUM
A CELEBRATION OF BOOKS AND IDEAS FROM DALLAS AND BEYOND
WHAT’S AHEAD: THE VIEW FROM ROUTH STREET Renowned urban thinker and Dallas Institute Fellow Jane Jacobs died in 2006, a few days before her 90th birthday. In 2004 she published her final book, Dark Age Ahead, in which she argued that “we show signs of rushing headlong into a Dark Age.” Suffused with prophecy, Jacobs’ last public utterance warned that “a Dark Age is a culture’s dead end,” marked by “mass amnesia in which even the memory of what was lost was also lost.” Following an exploration of the book, Institute Fellows found themselves divided: is Jacobs’ ominous prediction likely, or does she overstate the case? What is the future of our culture as viewed from Routh Street, where Institute Fellows gather? This Symposium will proceed from Jacobs’ conclusion that self-awareness is the necessary foundation of a vigorous culture; presentations by Fellows will consist of excursions into various regions of contemporary culture, with ample discussion to follow each one. The Fellows of the Dallas Institute are an invited and distinguished group of scholars, teachers, writers, and public intellectuals in the arts and humanities, residing in Dallas and other cities around the world. April 27: 9:30am - 4:30pm
THE 2019 DALLAS FESTIVAL OF BOOKS AND IDEAS The Dallas Morning News, the Dallas Institute, the Dallas Public Library, Friends of the Dallas Public Library, and the Dallas Museum of Art Since 2015, the Dallas Festival of Ideas has aimed at shaping the city of the future by igniting, uniting, and energizing the people of Dallas through the power of ideas. In 2019, the 5th annual city-wide event will have a new look and expanded content, incorporating the Dallas Book Festival into its programming and conducting its familiar city-track explorations over a week-long period. This year’s City Tracks — the Physical City, the Welcoming City, Science in the City, and the Literary City — will be spotlighted on separate weeknights in different venues, featuring out-of-town and local speakers and panelists. A celebration of books and authors, also from Dallas and beyond, will be the capstone event on Saturday of this first-ever Dallas Festival of Books and Ideas. May 28 - 31, City Tracks, 6:30 - 8:30pm June 1, Celebration of Books, 9:30am - 12:30pm Various Venues TBA: City of Dallas
$60 $50 for Members $20 for Educator Members Members; continental breakfast; lunch on your own
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FREE ADMISSION 19
PRESENTED BY DR. RENÉ PRIETO
PRESENTED BY BRIAN WILSON AND PROFESSOR RAY HUGHEL
SPRING 2019 CLASSES
SEMINAR:
GUSTAVE FLAUBERT’S MADAME BOVARY
A HISTORY OF REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS
Some villains are terrible through and through — characters that you love to hate from the moment they flit across the page, leaving nothing but misery in their wake. But some villains draw us in. They’re so sparkling and alluring that although we know they’re evil, we can’t resist being on their side. They do terrible things, but they’re so interesting and complex that we want to know what they’ll do next. They’re unpredictable — and unashamed. Other characters can’t stay away from them, and neither can the reader. Over the years, many of these have been women, on one of whom this class will focus: Madame Bovary, considered by many ‘the first modern woman’ in literary history. We will examine her formative years, education, and marriage in a small town in France during the 19th century in an attempt to determine what Flaubert had in mind when he cast a romantic dreamer as the centerpiece of his realist classic.
What are the ideas that have most profoundly changed the world? Where did these ideas come from, how did they spread, and what has been their result? Join Brian Wilson, Co-Founder of Combat & Classics, and Dr. Ray Hughel of the O’Neil Center and SMU Cox School of Business for four weekly classes exploring the genesis of revolutionary ideas through seminal texts from six classic thinkers and contemporary scholar Dierdre McCloskey.
Tuesdays: January 8, 15, 22, 296:30 - 8:30pm Text: Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, a new translation by Lydia Davis. Penguin Classic, ISBN 9780143106494
Seating for this seminar-style class is limited to 25 per weekly session. You may sign up for the full class and ensure your seat or register for individual sessions. Session 1 American Revolution: Selections from Mill, Locke and De Tocqueville Session 2 French Revolution: Selections from Rousseau Session 3 Communist Revolution: Selections from The Communist Manifesto Session 4 The Great Enrichment: Selections from Dierdre McCloskey Thursdays: March 7, 14, 21, 28, 6:30 - 8:00pm
$125
$100 $25 PER SESSION
$110 for Members $50 for Educator Members
$80, $20/Session for Members $28, $7/Session for Educator Members
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PRESENTED BY DR. J. LARRY ALLUMS
PRESENTED BY ONYEMA NWEZE
PARADISE LOST: THE WEST’S EPIC OF GOOD AND EVIL
CHINUA ACHEBE’S THINGS FALL APART
No Western understanding of the human condition is complete without a consideration of Paradise Lost. John Milton’s 17th century classic has been variously praised and damned over the years for its portrayal of the cosmic struggle for the soul of humankind, but there is no doubt that many of its images have found inextricable place in our collective consciousness. The apparent magnificence of Satan in the opening books, the tension between justice and mercy in the Godhead, the beautiful yet vulnerable purity of Adam and Eve in the garden: it is through these characters and themes that Milton fashions his epic attempt to “justify the ways of God to men.” We will pay particular attention to Milton’s vision of life itself as a divine gift whose fullness is realized only within the overwhelming circumstance of the soul’s freedom.
“Where Something stands, there also Something else will stand.” Known for referencing this common Igbo proverb, Chinua Achebe became internationally acclaimed as a Nigerian-born author who brings to life the beliefs and culture of African communities not illustrated in the colonial landscapes seen in European writings of the time. First published in 1958, Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart tells “the story of a strong man” who wrestles with the changing world around him. In the 21st century, when change or “innovation” can be considered an expectation, what lessons can Achebe’s classic work teach about the human condition? Join Onyema Nweze this May in a deep reading and discussion of Achebe’s moving novel. Thursdays: May 2, 9, 16, and 23, 6:30 - 8:30pm
Wednesdays: April 3, 10, 17 and 24, 6:30 - 8:30pm
$125
$125
$110 for Members $50 for Educator Members
$110 for Members $50 for Educator Members
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PRESENTED BY DR. DONNA MCBRIDE
CONDUCTED BY MEMBERS OF THE CIRCLE
SPRING 2019 GROUPS
THE HISTORIANS The Historians reading group meets monthly to discuss books from all areas of history. Do you want to learn more about political history? Social history? Military history? This is your chance to read and discuss history books recognized by historians as the best in their discipline. Under the expert guidance of Dr. Donna McBride, who has taught history for almost forty years at both the secondary and university levels, the Historians will be reading and discussing one book per month. If history is your passion, your interest, or the discipline you want to know better, this group is designed for you.
Session 1 February 5, 6:30 - 8:00pm Grant, Ron Chernow Session 2 March 5, 6:30 - 8:00pm For All the Tea in China: How England Stole the World’s Favorite Drink and Changed History, Sarah Rose Session 3 April 2, 6:30 - 8:00pm
THE DALLAS INSTITUTE’S
BEN FRANKLIN CIRCLE
Rubicon: The Last Days of the Roman Republic, Tom Holland Session 4 May 7, 6:30 - 8:00pm Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam, Frances FitzGerald
February 8 and April 12, 6:30 - 8:00pm
$35 PER SESSION
$125 PER SEMESTER $35 PER SESSION
$30 for Members $14 for Educator Members
$110/Semester, $30/Session for Members $50/Semester, $14/Session for Educator Members
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The Institute’s Ben Franklin Circle launched in September 2016 and has examined two of Franklin’s thirteen virtues every semester, for a total of twelve by the end of Spring 2019 semester. Led by a different member each time, our sessions have been lively, educational, and civil, though not always without heat. But with only one virtue left to explore, what to do? Luckily, the Mother Ship at the 92nd Street Y in New York City has responded to the crisis and come up with twelve new virtues: Empathy, Gratitude, Courage, Curiosity, Equality, Forgiveness, Compassion, Humor, Honesty, Love of Learning, Generosity, and Non-violence. We’ll begin working on this new list in Fall 2019. Meanwhile, if you see a virtue on the new list that interests you, join the Circle and claim it. The network of Ben Franklin Circles nationwide is growing, and we’re proud that the Institute was one of the first. The Dallas Institute in partnership with the 92nd Street Y, Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, and Citizen University in Seattle.
MODERATED BY DR. J. LARRY ALLUMS
PRESENTED BY DR. J. LARRY ALLUMS
PRESENTED BY DR. SCOTT CHURCHILL & GUEST CRITICS
BREAKFAST AND LUNCH BOOK GROUPS
SPEAKING OF MOVIES….
Why read the good stuff? What you read isn’t as important as that you read, we often hear these days. But is just any poem or story capable of the kind of impact Eudora Welty, in her graceful memoir One Writer’s Beginnings, relates as a friend’s experience: “And I happened to discover Yeats, reading through some of the stacks in the library. I read the early and then the later poems all in the same one afternoon, standing up, by the window… I read ‘Sailing to Byzantium,’ standing up in the stacks, read it by the light of falling snow. It seemed to me that if I could stir, if I could move to take the next step, I could go out into the poem the way I could go out into that snow.” The good — the best — writing is capable of changing one’s life forever. February 12 (Breakfast), February 20 (Lunch) An American Marriage, Tayari Jones March 12 (Breakfast), March 20 (Lunch) A Terrible Country, Keith Gessen April 16 (Breakfast), April 17 (Lunch) There There, Tommy Orange May 14 (Breakfast), May 15 (Lunch) Daughter of the Daughter of a Queen, Sarah Bird Breakfast: 7:15 - 8:45am, Lunch: 12:00 - 1:30pm
In an era of small and even tiny screens, what can still be said for the Big Screen? Plenty, according to movie lovers like those who make up this Institute group. Celebrated film critic Pauline Kael said that “a good movie can make you feel alive again, in contact, not just lost in another city. Good movies make you care, make you believe in possibilities again.” But how does one discern a “good” movie from a “bad” one? Isn’t that a subjective matter of taste and preference? The members of this Institute group would most likely disagree. They enjoy the experience of current films selected monthly by resident critic Scott Churchill and then come together to discuss them. Along with guest critics such as The Dallas Morning News’ Chris Vognar, members are tutored in the fine points of film-making-the intricacies of the proverbial “Lights! Action! Camera!” — in order to become enlightened dwellers in the dark caves of cinema. February 18, March 18, April 15, 6:30 - 8:00pm Dinner-and-a-Classic-Movie: May 20, 6:15 - 8:45pm — RSVP required by May 15
$125 PER SEMESTER $35 PER SESSION
$225 PER SEMESTER $60 PER SESSION $200/Semester, $51/Session for Members $90/Semester, $24/Session for Educator Members
$110/Semester, $30/Session for Members $50/Semester, $14/Session for Educator Members
Includes book and breakfast/lunch
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MODERATED BY DR. J. LARRY ALLUMS
FRIDAY NIGHT SALON March 8 and May 10, 6:30 - 8:00pm — Reception at 6:00pm
$35 PER SESSION $30 for Members $14 for Educator Members
The Institute’s Friday Night Salon has been meeting continuously for over twenty years, and it is the only purely democratic salon we know of (we invite contradictions). As poet, scholar, and Institute Fellow Frederick Turner wrote in 2005, “a salon is a civic ritual; at the very impressive and intellectual Dallas Institute open house on Fridays, discussion topics are placed in a basket and selected at random, and the procedure has more than a practical function. It ritually gathers people’s ideas together.” During these troubled times, it is by now a common lament that genuine conversation seems to be a vanishing species of public life. If you hanker for open eyes and ears, good will, and a desire for truth—not to mention good food and beverage—you should come to Routh Street on the second Fridays of March and May.
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SPRING 2019 AT THE COWAN CENTER™
COWAN CENTER CONFERENCE
COMMUNITAS The purpose of Communitas is to offer primary and secondary teachers and administrators the opportunity to gather monthly for an evening of adult company and good conversation about things that are inspiring, provocative, and meaningful for those whose work is the “soul building” of education. (CPE credit) January 7, February 4, March 4, April 1, and May 6 6:30 - 8:30pm Venue: The Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture
Primary and secondary teachers and administrators are invited to enjoy an intellectual retreat to hear and discuss essays written and presented by their peers, works that they have written about things they love in their academic disciplines. This is a unique experience: a university-style conference in which Summer Institute and Arête Institute alumni are the speakers and interlocutors. Essays are being presented on literature, history, philosophy, science, art, and music. (CPE credit)
$20
January 25, 6:00 - 9:00pm January 26, 9:00am - 4:00pm
$10 for Educator Members
$45 Member Discounts do not apply Includes dinner on Friday night and breakfast and lunch on Saturday with monograph of the proceedings.
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THE COWAN VISION OF LIBERAL LEARNING FOR ALL
THE NORTH TEXAS HUMANITIES CONSORTIUM™
After the Summer Institutes, alumni seeking Cowan Teacher™ certification will take the “Cowan Vision of Liberal Learning for All” course, a class designed to help primary and secondary educators understand the Cowans’ unique stamp on liberal education, a vision that claims the right of a high quality liberal education for every child in America in public or private schools. Sue Rose Summer Institute Alumni are eligible to attend.
Each semester, the Cowan Center invites primary and secondary educators who are invested in exploring and promoting the essential work of humanities education in our schools to hear guest speakers and participate in workshops. February and April, TBD, 6:30 - 8:00pm
$10
January 12, February 9, March 2, and April 6, 9:00am – 12:00pm and 1:00pm – 4:00pm Venue: Fort Worth, TBD
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THE SUE ROSE SUMMER INSTITUTES—FOR PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS
Dr. J. Larry Allums, Ex-Officio Jon Bauman J. Russell Bellamy, Co-Chair Albert C. Black, Jr. Trevor Brickman John R. Castle, Jr. Rex Cumming Kristen Cunningham Matrice Ellis-Kirk David Griffin, Co-Chair Dr. Sharon A. Harris Kathy Herring Kim Jordan, Life Kate Juett Sue Maclay Joseph R. Mannes Dr. Nancy Cain Marcus, Life Justin Moore Daniel Patterson Steven Raab Betty Regard Dr. Jaina Sanga Dr. Joanne Stroud, Life Dr. Gail Thomas, Life Brian Wilson
Monica Gordon Event Assistant Joshua Kalin Registrar Claudia MacMillan, Ph.D. Director, The Louise and Donald Cowan Center for Education™
Sue Rose Summer Institute Alumni of both Epic Tradition and Tragedy and Comedy may attend.
The first half of the study of Dr. Louise Cowan’s lyric genre theory with the focus on the Psalms, Shakespeare’s Sonnets, the Metaphysical poets, the Romantics, and the early modern poets from Dickinson to Yeats. (CPE credit)
J. Larry Allums, Ph.D. Executive Director
Jimmy Marlin Epperson III Marketing and Public Relations Associate
Breve (BREH-wey) will provide alumni of both July Sue Rose Summer Institutes with the opportunity for an annual intellectual re-treat in the community of a Summer Institute program. The content of Summer Institute Breve will change annually. We will focus on one major work or poet of significance not treated in the regular Summer Institutes and also explore the cultural and social milieu of the age through the lenses of the other disciplines: art, history, music, philosophy, science, and more. (CPE credit)
LYRIC I
Board of Directors
Kimberlee Cantrell Hospitality and Administrative Assistant
BREVE
June 10 - 12, 8:45am - 4:00pm
Staff
Michele Mervis Manager of Hospitality
PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
Pam Mueller Manager of Operations
NEW! The second year of a two-year summer institute for alumni of the Epic and Tragedy/Comedy summers. In the 2019 summer program, the focus will be on “Modern Political Thought from Machiavelli to Marx (and beyond).” (CPE credit)
Rachel Savant Director of Marketing
July 8 - 26, 8:45am - 4:00pm
Vaniese Scott Administrative Assistant
June 24 - 28, 8:45am - 4:00pm
TRAGEDY AND COMEDY
Erin Teague Cowan Center Assistant
The 36th annual Sue Rose Summer Institute for teachers and administrators from around the metroplex, particularly those seeking Cowan Center certification in order to serve in the Cowan Academy in the Humanities programs opening in the fall of 2019. (CPE credit)
Trisha Watson Director of Development
The Tragedy and Comedy summer is required for the Cowan Teacher diploma for Cowan Center certification. Cowan Teacher certification is required for any teacher or administrator teaching in or leading a Louise and Donald Cowan Academy.
Advisory Board Nancy J. Allen Dr. Randy D. Gordon Ronald M. Mankoff Nelda Cain Pickens Mary Jane Ryburn Stewart H. Thomas Junior Board of Directors Laurel Bush Brian Diggs Larry Ferguson Stephanie Gerber Donielle Johnson Warren Luckett Raphael McIntyre Justin Moore Wesley Nute Casey Woods Fellows
July 8 - 26, 8:45am - 4:00pm
Dr. Seemee Ali Dr. J. Larry Allums Dr. Glenn Arbery Dr. Joan Arbery Dr. Virginia Arbery Dr. Sabri Ates Dr. Victor Bailey Dr. Sudeshna Baksi-Lahiri Larry Beasley Dr. Tess Castleman
For details, costs, and enrollment, email cmacmillan@dallasinstitute.org. Admission by application only.
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Dr. Scott Churchill Sarah Cortez Dr. Bainard Cowan Prof. Keith Critchlow Lee Cullum Dr. William Deresiewicz Dr. Larry Dossey Rod Dreher Dr. Robert Scott Dupree Dr. Jared Farmer Prof. Barnaby Fitzgerald Brad Goldberg Dr. Randy D. Gordon Dr. David Greenberg Dr. Brad Gregory Dr. Hazel Henderson Dr. Benjamin Johnson Dr. Hilaire Kallendorf Prof. Judy French Kelly Prof. Patrick Kelly Dr. Dorothy Kosinski Lewis Lapham Dr. Christopher J. Lebron James Lehrer Dr. Thomas Lindsay Weiming Lu Dr. Claudia MacMillan Alia Malek Dr. Nancy Cain Marcus Dr. David Markham Dr. Thomas Mayo Dr. James E. McWilliams Dr. Tiya Miles Thomas Moore Prof. Lyle Novinski Dr. Wesley Null Dr. Mark Oppenheimer Katherine Owens Dr. Zsuzsanna Ozsvath Dr. Diane Ravitch Dr. Elizabeth Reyes Dr. Robert Romanyshyn Dr. Daniel Russ Dr. Elizabeth Russ Dr. John Z. Sadler Dr. Elizabeth Samet Dr. Scott Samuelson Dr. Jaina Sanga Dr. Robert J. Sardello Dr. Diana Senechal Dr. Dennis Patrick Slattery Dr. Carolyn Smith-Morris Dr. Willard Spiegelman Dr. Marilyn Stewart Dr. Joanne Stroud Dr. David Sweet Dr. Rodney C. Teague Dr. Gail Thomas Dr. Frederick Turner Prof. Mary Vernon
Jerome Weeks Dr. James Matthew Wilson In Memory of Mortimer Adler Prof. Jacques Barzun Dr. Guy Story Brown Dr. Donald Cowan Dr. Louise Cowan Dr. Dona Gower Adolf Guggenbuhl-Craig Dr. James Hillman Ivan Illich Jane Jacobs Mrs. Eugene McDermott Dr. Albert Murray Prof. Christian Norberg-Schulz Kathleen Raine Dr. Cheryl SandersSardello Dr. Vincent Scully Patsy Swank Robert Trammell William Holly Whyte
DONORS & MEMBERS DONORS*
$500,000 and up Mrs. Eugene McDermott Betty Regard $100,000 and up Kim Jordan Dr. Nancy Cain Marcus Dr. Joanne Stroud $50,000 and up Deedie Rose Dr. Gail and Bob Thomas $25,000 and up Mary Jane and Frank Ryburn $10,000 and up Betty and Russell Bellamy Dr. Dorothy and John R. Castle
Kaleta Doolin and Dr. Alan Govenar Kathy and Tony Herring Lyda H. Hill Nancy Perot and Rod Jones Trudy and Bob Ladd Sue Maclay $5,000 and up Dr. J. Larry Allums Kathryne and Gene Bishop Gwyneith and Albert Black Kyle and James Galbraith Sally and Forrest Hoglund Dr. Claudia MacMillan Virginia McDermott Cook Barbara and James M. Moroney III $2,500 and up Sarah and Dr. George Cooper Ann and David Drumm Laura and Walter Elcock Jerry Jordan Lisa and Peter Kraus Ginny Jackson and Steven Raab Catherine and William Rose Donna Wilhelm Carol Winkelmann $1,000 and up Michael Beshara Deborah and Gary Bieritz Nancy and Gene Carter Kay and Elliott Cattarulla Shannon and Dr. Fred Cerise Christine and Dr. Bainard Cowan Lauren Embrey Bess and Ted Enloe Danielle and Gustavo Gonzales Jane and Greg C. Greene David Griffin and James Ferrara Tom Heines Sandra and Rick Illes Joy and Ronald M. Mankoff Cyrena Nolan Sybil and Lyle Novinski Nelda Cain Pickens Drs. Jaina and Raghuram Sanga William H. Slack Brenda and Nelson Spencer
$500 and up
$2,500 and up
Laura and Daniel Boeckman Olamaie and Randall Fojtasek Kathryn and Graham Greene Phyllis K. Lapham Kim Miller Dr. Carol R. Myers Katherine Owens and Bruce DuBose Ann Parrish Mark Perkins Rhonda D. Roberts Becky Salonish Michelle and Stewart Thomas Malcom Turner Michael Unruh
Downtown Dallas, Inc. Ecolab Humanities Texas Gensler Locke Lord LLP Renah Blair Rietzke Family & Community Foundation United Way of Metropolitan Dallas University of Texas at Arlington
CORPORATE & FOUNDATION SPONSORS
$100,000 and up AT&T The Hoblitzelle Foundation $50,000 and up Central Market (HEB Grocery Company LP) The Dallas Foundation Sapphire Foundation, Inc. Sherman Fairchild Foundation, Inc.
$1,000 and up Dallas Arts District Foundation The Dallas Independent School District Doug Boster Catering
Patron $500
$500 and up Carl B. and Florence E. King Foundation Clampitt Foundation University of North Texas System Community Partners The Dallas Morning News The Katy Trail Weekly United Valet Service The White Rock Weekly *September 1, 2017 – May 31, 2018
$10,000 and up Baylor Scott & White Health City of Dallas — Office of Cultural Affairs Mankoff Family Foundation Potter’s House of Dallas, Inc. $5,000 and up The Embrey Family Foundation The Eos Foundation Humanities Texas Interabang Books The Louise W. Kahn Endowment Fund Northern Trust OTSL Charities Southern Methodist University Texas Mutual Insurance Renah Blair Rietzke Family Foundation
Brent Gentsch Danielle and Gustavo Gonzales Lori and Dr. Randy Gordon Jane and Greg Greene Tom Heines Kathy and Tony Herring Eleanor Krebs Katherine Lyle Dr. Claudia MacMillan Mary and Terry MacRae Joy and Ronald Mankoff Tori and Joseph Mannes Barbara and Dr. Jim McDermott Danna Orr Nancy and James Phelps Ellen and J. McDonald Williams
MEMBERS*
Benefactor $5,000 Lou and Jon Bauman Cecilia and Garrett Boone Sandra and Rick Illes Pillar $2,500 Norris Branham Nancy and Clint Carlson Sarah and Dr. George Cooper Sharon Harris Kim Jordan Sue Maclay Ellen and John McStay Cyrena Nolan Brenda and Nelson Spencer Pegasus $1,250 Dr. J. Larry Allums Emy Lou and Jerald Baldridge Callie and Trevor Brickman
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Suzanne and Ansel Aberly Nancy and Roger Allen Drs. Sudeshna and Supallav Baksi-Lahiri Laura Baldwin Deborah and Gary Bieritz Kalita and Ed Blessing Laura and Daniel Boeckman Janis and Roy Coffee Lee Cullum Carol and William Elliott Ola and Randall Fojtasek Elizabeth and Ron Francis Peggy Levinson and Dr. Dana Fuller Kelly and Thom Hulme Lisa and Peter Kraus Eileen and David Lynn Casey McManemin Leila Kempner and Dr. James McWilliams Dee Mitchell Linda and Patrick Rayes Patricia Stone and Gary Rice Gay and William Solomon Stewart and Michelle Thomas Jo Tuck Jane and Rayburn Tucker Muse $250 Barbara and William Benac Jan and Stuart Black Mary Bloom Kathy and Chet Boortz Lou and Larry Brown Suzanna Brown Annabelle Catterall Mary Cave Shannon and Dr. Fred Cerise Marty and Russ Coleman
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Christy Coltrin and Brad Oldham Dr. Leesa and Jim Condry Sarah Cortez Teresa Marie Dillard Katherine Owens and Bruce DuBose Nancy and Jonathan Erickson Nancy and Dr. Jon Esber Veletta and John Lill Kaleta Doolin and Dr. Alan Govenar Patricia Grace Cindy and Steven Harris Rusty and John Jaggers Patrice and Raymond Jennison Farimah Khoshnoudi Carolyn and Dr. Richard Kily Jane and Dr. Thomas Mayo Susan Brown and Bill McCoy Janie and Cappy McGarr Mike McWilliams Mary Jo and Robert Milbank Drs. Lynda and Gordon Newman Karri Nichols Ann Parrish Pat Sabin Jane and William Sandlin Jennifer Gunn and Michael Tate Rita Borbon and Keven Thornberg Linda Vorhies Alisa and Mike Wilson Rebecca Winn Libby and Dr. John Zerner *As of November 1, 2018
Thank you to all of our members and supporters! Have questions about becoming a member or donor? Please contact Trisha Watson at (214) 981-8810 or email trishawatson@dallasinstitute.org
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