Tue. June 19
Topic: Shaping Historic Memory
Guest: Erna Paris, author of Long Shadows 
Our guest will explore how nations reinvent themselves after cataclysmic events. We will discuss who really decides what actually happened yesterday and why many countries cannot lay the past to rest.

Wed. June 20
Topic: Dealing with Ethnic and Racial Change
Guest: Jewelle Taylor Gibbs, Prof. Univ. of California, Berkeley
The world’s population is on the move. How do the social dynamics change when one ethnic group or race moves into a location once occupied by a homogeneous group?  Which group carries the brunt of responsibility for making the change work?  Should the original group be more welcoming or should the new people try harder to fit in. Professor Gibbs will address these and other questions about our changing world.

Thr. June 21
Topic: Quarterlife Crisis
Guests: Alexandra Robbins, contributing editor Mademoiselle Magazine
           Abby Wilner, website administrator
Navigating the challenging transition from adolescence to adulthood, from school to the working world, can be a very difficult and even painful. We will talk about what all twenty-somethings have in common and how our guests overcame their own challenges.

Fri. June 22
Topic:   People and Their Plants
Guest: Michael Pollan, The New York Times Magazine
Human cultures vary widely in the plants they use to gratify their desires, but four are fundamental to all – sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control. Michael Pollan, author of The Botany of Desire will discuss the plant world and its’ relationship to humans.